Moose Jaw’s Caitlyn Howe was able to make a big check mark on her bucket list on Monday as she competed in the 121st running of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Mass.

“It was really cool, it was unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced in my life,” said Howe following the run on Monday.

Howe finished in a time of 3:44:03, which she said was a bit slower than she had hoped due to an injury during training, but overall an accomplishment that she’s very proud of.

“Overall I did okay based on how little training I was able to do and I’m still pushing through an injury here,” said Howe. “This was my slowest marathon yet, but still only about ten minutes slower than previous ones, so not too bad, but it hurts a lot though.”

There were over 30,000 runners taking part in this year’s Boston Marathon, which is the oldest annual marathon in the world. There was also over half a million people lining the streets to cheer on the runners throughout the day.

Howe said it was an incredible experience to run in such a historic event.

“It was like nothing else, it’s a rush,” she said. “From start to finish, there were spectators cheering us on, it was an experience I’ve never had before anywhere else.”

Howe qualified for the Boston Marathon after making it onto the podium at the Saskatchewan Marathon in Saskatoon last year. She was among a group of 17 runners from Saskatchewan that took part in the race.

Lining up at the line to start the race, Howe said there were definitely some nerves.

“There were a lot of nerves,” she said. “I injured my knee about a month and a half ago, so my training definitely wasn’t what I was hoping for, so I felt really under-trained going into today and that made me a little nervous.”

Despite the injury, Howe started off strong, actually speeding up her times through the first 15-kilometres, but she said she had to slow down her pace as the race went on.

“The first little bit was not too bad, but my knee kind of kicked in around mile 6-7 and it really took a hit and I ended up actually doing a bit of walking and running splits, which I don’t ever do really,” said Howe. “On top of that, it was fairly windy and the temperature was well above what I was use to training in over the past couple of months in Saskatchewan, so it was a tough run.”

However the experience has only made Howe hungrier to get back and give the marathon another go.

“I got my official race jacket this year and I want to fill it up with some dates,” she said. “My time didn’t qualify me for next year, which is fine, but oh yeah, I’ll be back.”

Kenyan runners Geoffrey Kirui and Edna Kiplagat took top spot in the male and female standings, respectively. Kirui finished with a time of 2:09:37, while Kiplagat came in with a time of 2:21:52.