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West Newbury native running the Boston Marathon to honor family with Alzheimer’s
Colin Rowan is running the 2026 Boston Marathon for the Alzheimer's Association.
In our “Why I’m Running” series, Boston Marathon athletes share what’s inspiring them to make the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston. Looking for more race day content? Sign up for Boston.com’s pop-up Boston Marathon newsletter.
Name: Colin Rowan
Age: 53
From: Portland, Oregon
I have deeply personal reasons for wanting to run Boston and support the Alzheimer’s Association MA/NH Chapter. I am a Massachusetts native and my mother grew up in Wellesley, Mass. I watched the Boston Marathon as a child just a short walk from my grandparents’ house. All these years later, I can still remember streams of runners passing by in rainy, cold conditions and the warm greetings and enthusiastic support they received from onlookers lining the street. While I haven’t always been a runner, the Boston Marathon has captured my imagination since childhood.
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More specific to Team End ALZ, my grandmother (Eddie Cranshaw, “Mumma”) was a hugely important influence in my life and suffered from dementia before passing away in 2011. Mumma was kind, loving, gracious, thoughtful, empathetic and deeply compassionate. Losing her to dementia was terribly sad.
My mother, Lee Rowan, turned 83 in January and has been increasingly suffering from dementia-related symptoms over the past five or so years. Like my grandmother, my mother is warm, kind, thoughtful and extremely loving. She has a bright smile, an abiding kindness and optimism, a generous spirit, a fantastic sense of style and a joie de vivre. She prioritizes family and friends and maintains a deep and patient love for the people in her life. She is a lovely, remarkable human and continues to be an enormously important influence in my life.
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My effort to run the Boston Marathon and support the Alzheimer’s Association MA/NH Chapter is one way that I can honor my mother and grandmother and support an organization that is doing invaluable work for people who are struggling with dementia.
Editor’s note: This entry may have been lightly edited for clarity or grammar.
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