She laughed. She wept. She walked. She ran. For amputee Adrianne Haslet, the Boston Marathon was a grueling 10½-hour odyssey.
But she finished. And Haslet, a professional ballroom dancer who lost her left leg in the 2013 finish line bombings, says conquering the course on a carbon-fiber blade was a giant leap forward toward reclaiming her life.
Monday's marathon was 26.2 miles of agonizing ecstasy for the 35-year-old Haslet. Her prosthesis dug painfully into her stump, and her leg began swelling around mile 7.
By mile 14, she had to spend an hour in a medical tent, and wondered how she'd ever manage to finish.
She did, powered by real and virtual cheers from President Barack Obama, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and thousands of others.