One of the final steps in preparing for a marathon is a long run. First-timers and seasoned veterans gathered in Boston to test their readiness with a 20-mile group run.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The Boston Marathon is now under a week away. Organizers expect 30,000 runners on Monday. From member station WBUR, Amanda Beland spoke with some preparing for their very first marathon.
AMANDA BELAND, BYLINE: It’s a Saturday morning, and a couple hundred runners are standing around Dan Fitzgerald, a running coach and local sneaker store owner. It’s sunny, cold and early, but that’s not stopping the group from running.
DAN FITZGERALD: This is it for you guys. This is the dress rehearsal. It’s the culmination of everything you did to get here. It’s also just a regular training run.
BELAND: They line up, ready to run.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Let’s go. Be kind. Be safe. Look out for each other. Have a great run, guys. (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Woo.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: All right, let’s do this. Let’s do this.
BELAND: Runners get together on Saturdays here at the base of one of the toughest legs of the marathon course – Heartbreak Hill, a little over 6 miles from the finish line.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Good luck, guys.
BELAND: Margaret Henry and Anika Vincent are part of the sea of runners. They met here one Saturday and have been friends ever since. Vincent says the group is important to her, especially during a tough training season full of ice, snow and injuries.
ANIKA VINCENT: Being able to come with this community and make friends and not run alone has helped so much with training.
BELAND: Vincent and Henry are among the roughly 3,000 charity runners in this year’s race. Those are runners who don’t have to qualify to run and instead have committed to fundraising for the nearly 200 nonprofits who have teams. Vincent is running for an organization that supports immigrant families. The 25-year-old says her parents came to the U.S. from India when they were 25. So the center’s work is close to her heart.
VINCENT: It’s crazy to think they’re the same age as me and they, like, were here without their parents and all, and they made it work. And, like, to know that, like, I have my parents here with me and, like, they’re coming to support me this marathon is just amazing.
BELAND: Henry is also running in honor of family, specifically her mom, who died of pancreatic cancer a few years ago.
MARGARET HENRY: She got her cancer treatment at MGH, and I work there now as a nurse. And I said, you know what? It’s time for me to race and do this for her.
BELAND: The runners made their way through the streets of Newton on a 10-mile course called the Firehouse. Many will do the loop twice.
UNIDENTIFIED RUNNER: Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER: You’re welcome.
BELAND: An hour or so after they start, the first runners complete their initial loop. Jordan Doucette and other volunteers hand out electrolyte gels and water. Doucette has run several marathons. She says when the race gets tough, runners have to remember why they started.
JORDAN DOUCETTE: I will, like, out loud talk to myself and say, OK, honey. We can do this. It’s hard, but you kind of draw from what your purpose is.
BELAND: As runners finish their two loops, it seems they’re doing just that. Many are smiling. Some are hugging and laughing with other runners. A little over four hours after they started, Margaret Henry and Anika Vincent finished too, smiles and all.
VINCENT: This was my longest run in my entire life. This is amazing. I mean, I never thought I’d be able to do this, like, ever in my life.
BELAND: Henry agrees. She says she drew on her two mantras to get her through – I can do hard things, and make yourself proud. The latter reminds her of her mom, her purpose in this race.
HENRY: Even though she’s not here, she’s still proud of me, and I can be proud of myself too.
BELAND: Veronica Vasconcelos is also proud of herself. She’s not training for the Boston Marathon, but runs with this Heartbreak Hill group regularly. Today, she ran 10 miles for the first time. As she finished, she celebrated with a friend who did the run with her. They jump up and down and hug each other. That’s because Vasconcelos has MS. She says running is about pushing her limits.
VERONICA VASCONCELOS: Being able to accomplish something as simple as running 3 miles to 6 miles to 10 miles, it’s like power over my body.
BELAND: For many runners hitting the course on Monday, they’ll have to draw on their why to cross the finish line. For NPR News, I’m Amanda Beland in Boston.
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