MICHAEL BOYLE: No Excuses for
Him
He
was off duty the morning of Sept. 11, but Michael Boyle,
a firefighter with Engine Company 33 in Manhattan, jumped
on the truck anyway when the alarms sounded.
"He cared a lot about the Fire Department," said his
younger sister, Jeanne Boyle. "He was very simple in his
ideas, but complex in his actions. And he could endure
pain like no one I've ever known.
"I would ask him," Ms. Boyle remembered, " `How do you
run a marathon?' And he would say, `Just get up every day
and run.' " That's what Mr. Boyle did. He was a "no
excuses" kind of guy, Ms. Boyle said.
A formidable athlete, Mr. Boyle, who was 37 and also
worked for the firefighters' union, clearly had a soft
side for his sister. She said he was protective, but from
afar. Two years ago, they both ran in the Long Island
Marathon, where Mr. Boyle, who lived in Westbury, N.Y.,
found her in the crowd and advised her to slow her pace
for her own good. Then he disappeared. He finished at 3
hours 15 minutes.
"But I could see him reading this saying: `That wasn't
my good time! Tell them my good time!' " Ms. Boyle said;
his good time, she said, was 3 hours 1 minute. "His goal
was to break three hours in the city marathon this year.
And he probably would have done it."
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