A local man participated in his second marathon ever last week, and joined the world in solidarity, showing support for a city that has seen so much tragedy.
Travis Hendrixson of Smithville says he started running two years ago, and soon found himself qualified for one of the biggest races around. "Last year, on April 27, I ran my first marathon in Nashville, and qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hrs 52 min 48 sec.  The Boston Marathon is my second marathon."
Hendrixson said that 32,456 runners ran in the Boston Marathon this year, which was held on April 21.  A total of 31,931 runners finished the race, and he came in at 16,776.
"This was the 118th Boston Marathon," Hendrixson said.  "The first one was held in April of 1897.  Then, you ran 26.2 miles through eight Massachusetts cities and towns:  Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston.
Now, 80 countries, and all 50 states are represented the race."
"This year, Meb Keflezighi became the first American to win the event since 1983," he continued. "The enthusiasm and devotion to the spirit of Boston from the hundreds of thousand of spectators really made a difference in the race. I wasn't just running for myself, but running for Boston.  The city of Boston really came together and became stronger since last year's bombing incident."