"I have to say that the people in this city, I've never been treated so nicely," Cheryl Zimmerman (left) 49, of Deming, Wash., said. "They represent our country very well."

"Here you feel running is a great sport," she continued. Zimmerman, who will be cheered on by her brother, Stuart Zimmerman, and nephew, Harry, both of Westchester County, N.Y., is running in her first Boston Marathon.