“The best advice is to have fun, I’d say, because it is grueling.”
Have you run the Boston Marathon before?
I wasn’t scared off after one year of doing it, so when the opportunity to register for a bib came out again last November, I told my wife, “I have the urge to do this again. You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I want to do this again.” And I was happy that Point32Health provided us with this opportunity.
What inspired you to start running marathons?
This is my third marathon. I had been in a running club for a couple of years up near where I live in Andover. I got a lottery bid for the New York City marathon in 2023. I had run in high school, cross country, and I just kind of kept up with running in the past but never had run the BAA medley races.
I had a couple of half marathons under my belt, but I had never really committed to running a marathon before. It was always something I had wanted to do, and it just seemed like a good time to do it because I was in a running club with people who had run marathons and had wisdom to impart. So, I ran New York and then I saw that last year the bibs opened for Boston, so I applied for that and here I am once again.
What charity are you running to support?
I’m running for the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation. My aunt died of NET cancer last May from a rare neuroendocrine illness. She had been fighting it for eight years. I just really wanted to honor her by working with this charity.
Can you talk about how running helps your overall well-being?
It’s really great to have something to train for. But, just getting out and running four or five times a week, I just always feel better after an exercise. If I’ve had a rough day, it just feels nice to get some of that energy out with my running. Or if I know I have a rough day coming up, it feels nice to do a jog in the morning and get ready for what the rest of the day holds.
And then at the same time for other workouts that I’ve been doing — like strength training, for example, I’ve been doing some core training classes with my wife — so for those exercises, it’s something we can bond over, something we can do at the end of the day after our daughter’s in bed, for just 10 to 15 minutes.
What is the best advice you’ve received or would give about running?
The best advice is to have fun, I’d say, because it is grueling. It’s a long day. It could be anywhere from three to six hours, depending on your time. You’re out there for a long time, but in a marathon like Boston, the crowds are great, and everyone is cheering you on. Everyone wants you to do well. Everyone wants you to finish. It really feels great once you’re out there and you can kind of have fun with it and enjoy yourself.
People in my run club were telling me that the race itself is your victory lap. You’ve trained for four months. You put the mileage in. You’ve done everything you need to do. Now, this is your victory lap when you’re out there and getting cheered on by thousands and thousands of strangers. So yeah, I think that’s the best advice: Have fun, treat it as your victory lap and really just enjoy yourself the day of the race. That’s really what made the first two marathons such a great experience for me. It made me want to go back and do it again.
After this marathon, do you have aspirations for others?
Yeah, I’d love to do New York again. I’m still waiting to hear. The lottery is tough to get into. I’m amazed that happened to me once. I’ve tried the lottery for Chicago a couple of times, it hasn’t happened. There are a couple of marathons in the fall I’ve been thinking about, but something else that’s been on my mind recently is doing a triathlon. It’s just the swimming part that is tough for me, but, you know, that is something else I’ve been considering.