A forward on the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team, Dan Killilea is no stranger to exhaustion and pushing his physical limitations. But this was entirely different.
So tired he could barely talk afterwards, Killilea, 22, nevertheless finished his first Boston Marathon yesterday in 3 hours, 51 minutes, just 10 minutes behind his 24-year-old brother, Tim (3:41:27), who was running his ninth. From Hopkinton, through Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, their native Newton, Brookline and finally through Boston, the brothers never strayed more than 10 minutes apart, fueled by a common goal.
A former security officer at Massachusetts General Hospital, Tim was running for the MassGeneral Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Marathon Team. Dan, finishing up his senior year at Wentworth, ran for the MassGeneral Pediatric Cancer Research Team. As of this publishing, the pair's efforts had resulted in nearly $2,000 of donations and one impressed father.
``I'm very proud of them,'' said Joe Killilea, the boys basketball coach at Newton South for almost 30 years. ``It was great to see them stay so close to one another throughout the race and then see them at the finish line.''
This certainly isn't the first time Tim has navigated the daunting, 26.2-mile course, but he only recently has begun to do so with such a purpose. A part-time bouncer at Porter Belly's Pub in Brighton, Tim saw firsthand the effects of cystic fibrosis on those it affects and their families.
``The son of the owner of Porter Belly's has CF and I've learned the effects and talked to a lot of people about it,'' said Timothy. ``Even though only 30,000 people in this North America have it, 10,000,000 people carry the gene so it's rare to find someone who hasn't been affected by it in some way.''
The same is true of cancer, which has had a direct impact on the Killileas as it has for just about every other family in one way or another.
``We had a family friend who died of cancer,'' said Daniel, ``And pretty much everybody has been affected by cancer or at least knows someone who has.''
Given that reality, it would seem petty to complain about exhaustion or throbbing muscles, even while climbing up Heartbreak Hill. But even for a veteran of eight Boston Marathons and 10 others, there needs to be some outside motivation to help carry a runner down those last, lonely miles. Luckily, the Killilea brothers had that in spades.
``There was a pretty brutal headwind to contend with but we had so many people cheering us on and I can't thank them enough,'' said Timothy. ``They were having a ball and I think that's what makes Boston so unique compared to other Marathons.''
``It was especially tough because this was my first time running so it was nice to have so many people cheering me on because I needed that push,'' added Dan, who needed just over a month following basketball season to train for yesterday's race.
Of course, training for 2010 is likely the furthest thing from their minds right now given how much the race takes out of even the most seasoned runner. But sore muscles and aching joints notwithstanding, both Dan and Timothy immediately describe the experience the same way: ``rewarding.''
If you'd like to reward their efforts and donate to their respective causes, visit firstgiving.com/timothykillilea or firstgiving.com/danielkillilea.
