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Lost wedding ring found on Marathon course reunited with owner

Jeff Glaser and his wife and daugter, Bridget (wife) and Maggie (daughter).Sara Menendez, BAA Medical Committee

Jeff Glaser knew exactly when it happened.

At mile 23, in the pouring rain, the Austin, Texas, resident slipped off his soaking-wet gloves. But as he peeled them from his frozen hands, his silver wedding band came with them.

“The guy running right near me said, ‘I think you dropped a ring,’” Glaser said in a phone interview after the race.

Glaser said he stopped running toward the finish line to search for the jewelry, and even enlisted the help of members of the National Guard standing nearby.

The ring was nowhere to be found, and he had three miles to go to the finish line.

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“I didn’t think I was going to see it again,” he said.

But after contacting organizers from the Boston Athletic Association late Monday afternoon, after he heard that a runner had picked up the ring along the race route and handed it in at the medical tent, Glaser and his ring were quickly reunited.

“I’m really happy that so many people connected me with it,” he said.

The ring, a silver band from Tiffany and Co., was turned in by a male runner around 1:15 p.m.Steve Annear/Globe Staff

The ring, a silver Tiffany & Co. band, was in the possession of medical coordinator announcer John Andersen for most of the day.

Andersen said at around 1:15 p.m. a runner reported to the medical tent, where Andersen makes public service announcements, and placed the ring in his hands for safekeeping. Looking after a wedding ring was a first for Andersen in his 18 years as a coordinator with the race organization.

Once Glaser saw a news report online about a ring being turned in to Andersen, he had a good feeling it was his.

“I was a little upset that I had lost my ring, but I tried to keep it all in perspective,” said Glaser, who ran the Boston Marathon for the sixth time Monday. “There are a lot bigger problems than a missing wedding ring, especially when you consider what the city has been through the last few years.”

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Since he doesn’t know the name of the runner who found his ring along the route, Glaser said he and his wife, Bridget, plan on making a donation to a local organization instead.

“We feel thankful to the people in Boston for helping us find it, so we’ll do something like that,” he said.