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In a tight race to lead the the city of Wilkes-Barre, a candidate named Leighton held off a fierce charge from a challenger who was once known as McLaughlin.
They weren’t running to become an elected official, though.
This battle may have officially been even more taxing, as Kelly Leighton edged Erin (McLaughlin) Griffin in a hotly-contested race Monday to become the first daughter of a former Wilkes-Barre mayor to reach the finish line of the 120th Boston Marathon.
“It’s nice to have a little bit of Wilkes-Barre in Boston,” said Griffin, who father and former Wilkes-Barre leader Tom McLaughlin passed away in 1997. “I’m sure my dad is smiling down on that.”
The sun was smiling, too.
And that made things rather difficult for runners trying to complete a race that turned exhausting on an uncomfortably warm and humid day.
“The sun was just kind of beating down on you,” Kelly Leighton said. “Mission Hill, from mile 17 to 21, it’s hard. Today was especially hard because of the heat. I usually don’t stop at the water stations, but I made sure to stop at every one and take enough fluid.”
It must have worked.
Leighton, accompanied to the marathon by her parents, finished the race in 3:28:24, to place at 1,173 in the 18 to 39-year-old age group and 1,415 among women runners.
“Not a PR (personal record), but I was pretty happy,” Leighton said.
Griffin clocked in at 3:36:10, winding up at No. 2,547 among women but placing at 353 in the 40 to 45 age group.
“I was a little blindsided by the heat in general,” Griffin said. “I didn’t run the time I was hoping for, I was shooting for 3:26. Once I got up Heartbreak Hill, I knew I knew halfway through I wasn’t going to be able to make my goal time. I wound up doing something I’ve never done before. I walked through all the aid stations. Once I got to the top, my left quad actually starting quivering. I had to drink.
“Kelly ran through them. I walked.”
And they weren’t really running against each other.
Rather, Griffin and Leighton were competing more against the elements and vying for their own goals — in this case, just to reach the finish line — while throwing full support behind each other throughout.
“Give a shout-out to the Leighton family, they were fabulous with their support,” Griffin said. “Kelly had a great race, she did awesome. I’m so proud of her.”
Monday marked the second Boston Marathon for both daughters of past Wilkes-Barre mayors, although it was the first time they were both running the same one.
Griffin made her first Boston run in 2014, finishing in just over 3 hours, 27 minutes the year after terroristic bombings at the finish line horrified the annual Patriot Day celebration in Boston.
“For a lot of people, that bombing made people wasnt to run another race,” Griffin said. “It’s one way of showing we’re not going to let terrorists change who we are or what we believe in.
“It strengthens our resolve, if anything.”
Last year, Leighton resolved to complete the Boston Marathon despite suffering through an illness. When she made her Boston debut, she sensed a mood that was more somber than celebratory.
“I really think it impacts the atmosphere,” Leighton said of the Boston bombings of three years ago. “It was really somber up there. I think it’s something we all think about and consider when we’re running.”
That awareness of the unspeakable didn’t make Leighton, Griffin or any of the tens of thousands of runners stop, though.
In her second crack at the Boston course, Leighton chopped nearly an hour off her time of 4 hours, 25 minutes during her first running on a course that may have been even more difficult than any of her father’s election trails.
“I think elections are very challenging,” Kelly Leighton said. “I’m really proud of the job he (mayor Leighton) did the past 12 years.”
And despite her disappointment with her latest finish, Griffin’s already eyeing another year on Heartbreak Hill, as her finish Monday qualified her for a return to next year’s Boston Marathon.
“Even though I’m disappointed in my own time, it’s not like I’m going to quit,” Griffin said. “And I did meet my second goal — that was to smile through the last two miles.
“And I have pictures to prove it.”
