Travel Tales

Young Chang

Right before beginning mile 16 -- which was a hill -- of a 26.6-mile

race, runner Paul King saw his mother, Jo King, waving and cheering on

the sidelines.

“I saw my mother before the hardest part of the race, which gave the

added inspiration to continue,” said the 39-year-old runner of the Boston

Marathon.

Newport Beach resident Jo King traveled to Boston in mid-April just to

cheer on her son.

She ended up walking the Harvard University campus and touring the

city also during her weekend trip, but her purpose was to join the

cheering squad for her rapidly running son, even if it was for just a

moment.

“I just kind of stood to the side and, as he ran by me, I snapped a

photo and yelled, ‘Paul! Paul!,”’ said King, a real estate agent. “He

raised his hand and waved, so he knew I was there.”

Manhattan Beach resident Paul King, vice president of construction at

Arden Realty Co., had run the San Diego Marathon with a friend early in

the year and did so well that he qualified for the Boston run.

Though usually a triathlon runner, which requires running, biking and

swimming, Paul King finished in the top 10%.

“The overall experience was phenomenal,” he said. “It was very

difficult, and the final mile was only made possible by the thousands of

people that were lining the route.”

Jo King said about 17,000 people ran the marathon, but the number of

sideline fans rivaled in size.

“It’s very popular, and all along the route there’s people. There’s

not one empty spot,” she said.

The proud mother cheered along with son Jonathan King, a Hollywood

producer who lives in Venice Beach. Her daughter in Palo Alto couldn’t

make it.

“We have a very close family,” Jo King said.

The day before the race began, the three travelers toured Boston,

while Paul King took a short run for part of the day to prepare. Jo and

Jonathan King rode the Duck, an amphibious vehicle that was used in World

War II to transport troops onto the beach, which took them around the

city on land and then onto the Charles River.

They had dinner -- Paul King ate a lot of pasta because carbohydrates

are what runners need -- and woke up early the next morning for the

marathon.

“It was incredible,” Jo King said. “When we met him near the end, as

we got to the buses and he collected his belongings, he walked around

like he wasn’t even tired.”

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