Back in October 2019, my buddy had some exciting news to share… “I'm going to run the Boston Marathon.” Next thing I know, I am the co-founder of a local running club. Fast-forward, now I'm going to run the Boston Marathon.
So how did I get into all of this running stuff? I play music in an acoustic duo cover band, Judes & the Hutch, and one night while playing a gig at Essex County Brewing Co. in Peabody, MA, AJ told me his plans to run Boston. Since we were playing music pretty much weekly at the brewery, he had the idea of organizing a brewery-running club to help him prepare. We're there anyway, right?
In October 2019, the Essex County Brewing Run Club was born. We met weekly (some of us twice a week) and we'd do a nice 2-3 mile loop in-and-out from the brewery. And by “we” I mean “they”. I found myself a tad better behind the scenes and made sure to keep track of everyone's number of runs, incentives, ya know, the admin-y stuff. I got out there a little bit, but EXCELled with Google Sheets more than in the streets. *Ba-dum-ch*
March 2020– How could we possibly keep up a run club that can’t run together? Oh, we found a way. With some help from Facebook, we kept ‘running together’ utilizing a group page where everyone could post pictures and screenshots of their runs, and we'd have competitions, and we somehow kept up a strong community in a time where we all really needed it. I told myself, “Once back in person, no excuses; I will run that 5k twice a week no matter how hard or long it takes.”
So that's what I did. Saying that running changed my life is an understatement– mentally, physically, everything. I still can't find the words to express how I'm feeling about having the opportunity for Boston to be my first marathon, and with this amazing foundation.
So why do this with Dougie's Team? Let's take it back ~10 years ago to January 2015. I had just moved to the North Shore of Boston from Maine, fresh out of college. I was about to begin my first job in the field of education at a specialized school in Beverly, MA, Hopeful Journeys Educational Center (previously known as Futures). Ten years later, not only am I still working in the field of individualized education, I am working at Hopeful Journeys.
Up until Jan ‘15, I had not had much experience (or exposure for that matter) with people of differing, and beautiful, abilities. Working closely with individuals, and families of those, with Autism continues to change my life for the better, day-by-day. Everyone deserves opportunity, acceptance, and love, and I am beyond grateful that I get to be part of Dougie's Team for the 129th Boston Marathon. And funny enough, I met AJ, some of my best friends, and my partner working at this school. Life is funny, right?
Fast-forward again, the run club (now known as the Coastal Mass Brewing Run Club) meets once a week at Coastal Mass Brewing in Beverly, MA. Many of these runners I have now been friends with for nearly 5 years, and I am so thankful to have them in my life. They will be a large driving force over this 6-month journey.
Many, many thanks to AJ, Laurel, Marc, Val, Leah, Toni, Paul K, Linda S, Linda C, Dave, Dat, Michelle, Mike O, Felicia, JoAnn, Mike M, Colleen, Paul T, Jay, Jon, Eli, Lenny, Kristian, Lacey, Ben, Kate, Pooch, Kayla, Carissa, Angela, Tim, Christine P, Mike M, Andy F, Chris N, Matt A, Jenn J, Jenn T, Ana, Mikey, Nicole C, Bridgette P, Rick K, Paul D, Beth D, the rest of CMB-RC, and last but certainly not least, Mark A.
And to everyone else, thank YOU. This means the world to me.