Ready, set, race: Monitor reporter runs her first Boston Marathon
Published: 04-16-2023 6:00 AM |
Michaela Towfighi is a Report for America corps member and Concord Monitor reporter covering the Two New Hampshires beat.
When I arrived in Concord last June, I was already hesitantly preparing for winter. I bought a big coat that summer, and envisioned myself skiing come December, and maybe learning how to cross-country ski or trading my rollerblades for ice skates.
When I pictured winter in New Hampshire, I didn’t think the darkest, coldest months of the year would mean continuing the runs on trails I ran all summer long.
But now it’s April and that is in fact what I did all winter: running miles around Concord training for the Boston Marathon.
It feels surreal to write now that I’m running the marathon on Monday. I would call myself an average runner at best, but what once was a hobby for me in lieu of other sports has turned into an addictive habit of getting outside and exploring a new place.
And that’s exactly what running has allowed me to do since moving to New Hampshire. I’ve run hundreds of miles looping downtown streets, catching the State House as the sun rises and sets, and I’ve run circles around St. Paul’s School and their offshoot of trails.
It’s also not lost on me that it’s the 10th anniversary of the horrific Boston Marathon bombings. I was born in Boston and lived on the North Shore growing up. But when the bombs went off in 2013, my family had just relocated to London, England, months prior.
I sat in my kitchen 3,000 miles away and my parents explained to my younger brothers and me what happened that day. I’d never felt farther from home.
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Now ten years have passed and I’m back in New England. Running the Boston Marathon has always been a long-term dream of mine, and this year it felt right to do it.
I ran my first half marathon in high school after a short-lived basketball career ended after I broke my hand (I now have two screws and a scar to show for it years later). And during the pandemic, I ran through the streets of London when all else was quiet.
Now I’m running Monday with a childhood best friend, who I met on the first day of kindergarten. We’re running for Beth Israel Lahey Health hospitals, where many family and friends went to, and worked, growing up.
Last year, $35.6 million was raised by charity runners for the 126th race. So far, our charity team has raised over $500,000 for Beth Israel.
Training for Boston has meant some of my runs started off with sunshine and ended with snow (I started a 19-mile run in shorts, and ended with my eyelashes frozen with snow). And training for Boston has also meant running the infamous Newton hills on the weekends, alongside hundreds of other runners affiliated with different charity programs, following Bible-like training plans.
But mainly, training for Boston has been the chance to be a part of something bigger than I could have imagined when I signed up in October.
I’ll run the same course Monday that world record holders will fly through hours earlier. Professional athletes I grew up rooting for will also line up at the start in Hopkinton. And I’ll be running alongside people who were there in 2013, who are braving the course again in honor of the 10 year anniversary.
It’s been a dream for a while and I’m excited to take on the challenge Monday.
You can follow along on the BAA App. I’m bib #26212 and I’ll start the race at 11:15 a.m.
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