Vermonters chart their own course to Boston Marathon

Donna Smyth runs on an officially sanctioned dirt-road course her husband designed alongside Windham County’s Green River so she could qualify for Monday’s Boston Marathon. Photo by Jennifer Garrett
VERNON — Vermonter Donna Smyth has raced her entire life, be it as a student sprinter or adult marathoner and 50-miler. But after suffering injury upon injury pounding the pavement, the 58-year-old physical education teacher has limited herself the past two decades to dirt roads and