RCTC goes to Boston! We interviewed 5 athletes a week before the historic marathon.
Teresa Stackhouse
1. Qualifying race, year, time
Mesa Marathon 2020 - 3:14
2. Is this your first Boston? If not, how many times have you run Boston before?
First Boston!
3. What does running Boston mean to you?
I'm excited to experience the crowds, the grueling hills, the energy of the city, literally just pumped to get on a starting line! Running the Boston Marathon feels really special as my first race back from having a kid. I've been able to let go of performance expectations and just enjoy training again. My brother is also running Boston, and he's expecting his first kid in a few weeks. We ran our qualifiers at the same race so it's quite the cherry on top to run Boston together, families that run together keep running together. That's what I always say!
4. Tell us a bit about your build up. Were there any particular challenges you faced? Did you make any big changes to your training to prepare?
Oof! It's been a long road. After giving birth, I felt like I had a LOT of strength and work to do to get back to any amount of aerobic development. But, I have an excellent coach who worked with me to gain strength and confidence again. I'm proud of how far I've come even if it doesn't look like a traditional marathon build-up.
5. Is there a particular goal you're shooting for? What will success mean to you on race day?
Damn if I have fun that's a win! No time goals, no place goals, just have fun and let the crowds push me.
6. What are you most looking forward to about the experience that is NOT running-related?
I'll be seeing old friends in Boston and can't wait to give them hugs!
Grace Cho
1. Qualifying race, year, time
Portland Marathon 2019 - 3:30:37
2. Is this your first Boston? If not, how many times have you run Boston before?
This will be my first Boston Marathon race. I qualified in 2012, but due to injury (and the beginning of the chronic knee issue) I didn't end up running in 2013. Sometimes I think that might have been a sign since 2013 was the year of the bombings. But it has taken me another 7 years to nab that qualifier.
3. What does running Boston mean to you?
Running Boston feels like it'll end one chapter and begin a new chapter of my running journey. It'll close the chapter of the years of struggle trying to address certain chronic injuries to get that BQ again, but it is the start of the new chapter of racing again after a prolonged delay COVID. I'm hoping in this new chapter I'm bringing a little more self awareness and wisdom, but also the great support and camaraderie of being part of a running team.
4. Tell us a bit about your build up. Were there any particular challenges you faced? Did you make any big changes to your training to prepare?
This build up was a bit interesting, but I've been really lucky it has gone pretty well when I began the training block in earnest. Back in November (2022), the week that the Boston Marathon was expected to tell qualifiers if they made it in for the 2022 race, I was hit by a car and broke four ribs. I found out two days later I got in. So getting back into training for Boston felt a little rushed, but I'm thankful the healing from the collision went according to schedule and I didn't have any hiccups during the marathon build.
In terms of changes during this build up to Boston, I kinda did it all. I finally took the plunge into hiring a coach, bought a pair of modern marathon racing shoes (aka carbon plated), and really worked on fueling and nutrition. I had known that the fueling was a weakness on my marathon racing and it was something I had planned to work on for my next marathon, but I have to say getting a coach was probably the most satisfying and by far the most insightful investment.
5. Is there a particular goal you're shooting for? What will success mean to you on race day?
I think if I can manage to finish without walking any of the uphills it'll be a success. Just kidding (but sorta not). The Boston course will be a real test in patience and mental strength, which I feel like if I execute both, then it'll be a good day.
6. What are you most looking forward to about the experience that is NOT running-related?
I'm really looking forward to seeing some friends from college cheer and run the race.
Stephen F. Tokarski
1. Qualifying race, year, time
2021 Rogue Marathon - 2:58
2. Is this your first Boston? If not, how many times have you run Boston before?
First Boston!
3. What does running Boston mean to you?
It’ll be my first major marathon! I honestly never actually thought I would qualify, so it’s still hard to quantify what it means. I guess more than anything it feels like the culmination of all of the running I’ve been doing since the pandemic started, which is pretty neat.
4. Tell us a bit about your build up. Were there any particular challenges you faced? Did you make any big changes to your training to prepare?
Well, this is the first time I’ve built my own training plan, and the biggest change for me is that I built in more miles than I’ve ever done before.
It was really challenging! I had to build it around a very full work schedule, I managed to pull *both* of my hamstrings on a track workout, and in general all of my big weeks just felt sluggish. I never really had that morale-boosting speed workout where I was like “wow, I’m in great shape!” So it was all kind of challenging.
5. Is there a particular goal you're shooting for? What will success mean to you on race day?
First goal is to PR (beat my last time), second goal is to qualify for New York Marathon (sub 2:55), but I think I would be very satisfied with not being one of the people crawling to the finish after Heartbreak Hill.
6. What are you most looking forward to about the experience that is NOT running-related?
I mean, does it count as running-related if I mention that I’ll really enjoy riding the T to downtown and taking the bus from there to the start line before the race? I love stuff like that and all of the camaraderie I feel with people I’ve never met before due to the fact that we are all doing something kind of insane together.
Other than that, I’ll *really* look forward to finding a good basement bar in Boston and having a cold beer after the race!
Liz Derstine
1. Qualifying race, year, time
Houston 2020 - 2:51:34
2. Is this your first Boston? If not, how many times have you run Boston before?
This will be my fourth Boston! I ran it in 2011, 2014, and 2019.
3. What does running Boston mean to you?
Running Boston is like one giant celebration of the running community. What always gets me when watching or running Boston is the inspirational stories of its wide array of participants, from the elites up front, to firefighters or members of the military completing the course in full uniform, to the people who have overcome physical or emotional trauma to get to the start line, and the everyday runners that worked their butts off on top of a very full work and/or family life to qualify.
The course itself is so hard, and I have never had what I'd consider an "A" race at Boston. Every time I've run it, by the time I get through the Newton hills and my legs feel like jelly I always say to myself, "NEVER AGAIN." Despite that, it keeps me coming back again and again.
This year is particularly special because I just got accepted into a grad program at Longy School of Music in Cambridge, and I'm moving to Boston and starting school there this fall. The Boston Marathon is going to be a big personal celebration of this next life chapter.
4. Tell us a bit about your build up. Were there any particular challenges you faced? Did you make any big changes to your training to prepare?
I had sort of an unconventional build up to this race. I did a decent amount of road running and speed work in January and February, but in March I shifted my focus to trails and did a thru-hike of the 348 mile Pinhoti Trail in Georgia/Alabama in 7 days, 18 hours, 22 minutes (a self-supported fastest known time for women). I completed the trail exactly three weeks before Boston, and recovery has been pretty rough, especially that first week. I was questioning whether or not I should even run Boston. It was really only this past Sunday at the Bridge to Brews 10K that I felt a little more like "myself". After that, and with one more week of recovery to look forward to, I'm feeling a little more confident about my chances of completing Boston and feeling good doing it.
5. Is there a particular goal you're shooting for? What will success mean to you on race day?
Success is getting to the start and finish line healthy. If anything starts to hurt I'm not going to try and be a hero and turn the race into a sufferfest. I really want to feel good in this race and enjoy it. I don't have any time goals. However, there are some high stakes involved–my boyfriend Glenn and I have a bet going, whoever loses to the other is buying the post-race lobster rolls. :)
6. What are you most looking forward to about the experience that is NOT running-related?
Enjoying the city and getting to imagine my new life in Boston for the next two years!
Brooks Barth
1. Qualifying race, year, time
2021 Hartford Marathon - 2:59
2. What does running Boston mean to you?
As a New Englander and someone who has come to love running, I think it means something to me. It’s more of a cultural thing that, as a marathoner, you always want to experience. I think it honestly has much to do, if not more, with my roots than my running.
Patriots Day, Red Sox, Boston Marathon. It’s New England.
3. Tell us about your training.
It was going well. I had tried to do a more strength- and track-focused training block. Track workouts going into it had been going very well but I picked up a calf injury that was pretty bad. As someone who was not a runner previously, I knew the moment that I did it that it was an acute musculoskeletal injury. North Lake has been great, and they got me to a place where I can actually run which is fantastic. Just to be able to do flat, long continuous miles is amazing. There’s no reason why I couldn’t have been shelved for months, and I was able to run within 2 to 3 weeks within picking up the injury.
4. What’s the goal on race day?
Finishing with as little walking and injury risk as possible.
5. Aside from running, what are you looking forward to the most?
I think just seeing the course. Running Route 1 through small New England towns that I have all of these memories of, let alone all these places through Boston that I have memories of. Past Wellesley, Boston College, Riverside, Woodlawn. Those are the places that I used to go to as a kid. Passing all these waypoints that I know, that’s home to me. It’s that and the crowds. I have very little Fs to give about my time.
6. Anything else that you’d like to add?
I’m really excited about the mindset going in. I had not a ton of wind in my sails from a PR standpoint. I checked the Hartford Marathon off my list, and that was such a win that I’m not disappointed. I’m excited for the experience. Beautiful, rolling hills and New England towns.
