AC

KACIE HERRICK WASN'T sure she was going to finish. She was running through Boston in something more than marathon pain. A month earlier, she had slipped on some ice while training in her native Maine and injured her right knee. She feared she wasn't going to be able to run in Boston at all, but she decided she didn't want to miss one of the great American races. With more than 16 miles to go, her knee began to swell and ooze. "It was pretty gross," the 29-year-old says today. "There were a lot of prayers, a lot of tears." Finally, with her parents and one of her sisters cheering her on -- "They had such a good spot," Kacie says -- she ran down Boylston Street and crossed the finish line. Her time was 3 hours, 33 minutes and 22 seconds. A friend of hers was volunteering and put her in a wheelchair, taking her to a medical tent. That tent was out of ice, so they moved to a second tent. Her family finally found her, but Kacie's father realized he'd left his camera hanging on a...