What runners are saying about the Boston Marathon’s new September date
For the Freemans, health is the main concern.
Runners around the world were forced to adjust after learning that the Boston Marathon was moved from April 20 to Sept. 14 due to the lingering effects of the coronavirus.
The wait is disappointing for runners eager to participate, but the consensus is that the extra time will benefit them in many ways — from care-taking to additional fundraising to extra training.
Here’s how some runners around the state are reacting to the news:
For the Freemans, health is the main concern.
Life for the Freemans has been put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tracy (44) and Michael (47), of Stoughton, are focused on ensuring their 6-year-old son, Aidan, who has Rett Syndrome, is out of harm’s way. Aidan is medically fragile, and his family’s priority is keeping him away from other people.
“They keep saying social distancing, which is what we always say about Aidan,” Tracy said. “Don’t come near him without hand sanitizer or washing your hands. Now at least people understand that, but he’s on lockdown. No one is coming to see him. A common cold could be life threatening for my son.”
Aidan wears his father John Freeman’s Boston Marathon medal around his neck.
For now, the Freemans are trying to maximize the time they have together, enjoy themselves as much as they can, and, most of all, stay healthy as a family to avoid putting Aidan at risk.
Once she learned the severity of the coronavirus, Tracy was glad they postponed the Marathon. If and when the chaos passes, she said she’ll have to essentially “start to train all over.” She plans to go back to the basics and more or less start from scratch.
She, Michael, and her brother, Richard Kerr, who is also running, don’t plan to stop fundraising in Aidan’s honor. Rett Syndrome has the symptoms of Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and Autism, and it causes bone density loss and hypertonia, among other effects.
The Freemans plan to put as much energy and effort into the Marathon as they possibly can, with Aidan in mind, regardless of the date.
“Aidan is the strongest person we know,” Tracy told Boston.com. “He is our warrior. He is our champion. He deserves to be a child. Aidan attends a special school and he works harder at life than any child should have to work. Aidan is so much more than Rett Syndrome. He is full of life and love. He completes us.”
Dan Mees views it as an opportunity.
Dan Mees knew rationally that it was likely the Marathon would be postponed, but he still hoped it wouldn’t be.
When it happened, he was disappointed, but he understood the logic and agreed with the decision.
“I’m excited that they’re not canceling it, that they’re postponing it,” said Mees, 55, of Andover. “September doesn’t sound that far away, but it’s five months away. It throws a monkey-wrench into your training.”
Dan Mees, 55, is excited to maximize the opportunity.
Mees is running for One Mission, a charity that helps kids get through cancer treatment. This year, he’ll have his neighbor, Johnny, a young child with an inoperable brain tumor, in mind. He’ll also be thinking of Alexandra Pacher, a young girl from Franklin, who died of cancer in 2012.
He’s still figuring out how to approach the hiatus, but he knows he wants to turn it into an opportunity to continue fundraising and getting in even better shape.
“Every year, when I run a marathon, I say I’m going to get in the best shape of my life,” Mees said. “I’m on this path now, and if I ran the marathon on April 20, by May 20, I’d be sitting on the couch, still eating too much, thinking about the great race I ran. This time, I think I’m going to try to stay disciplined through the summer and do some warm weather runs.”
For Zach and John Gorman, waiting is worth it.
Zach Gorman, 27, grew up watching his father, John, run the Boston Marathon nearly every year.
When John ran Boston for the 31st time last year, he told Zach it might be his last time. Zach, 27, made a deal with his father that if he ran in 2020, Zach would run with him.
“We made the agreement,” said Zach, who lives in Somerville and is from North Andover. “Now we’re running in September.”
Father and son Zach and John Gorman are looking forward to running the Boston Marathon in September.
John Gorman, who battled prostate cancer years ago but is currently cancer-free and healthy, is “a little bummed” about the postponement, but he’s doing well otherwise.
Zach was also bummed, but he has a plan going forward.
“You’ve got to completely change your mindset,” Zach said. “Luckily for me, the whole running aspect, I haven’t hated it. I’ve kind of enjoyed it. I’m going to bring it down a little bit. I’ll pretty much run recreationally, but it’s not like I’m going to do my normal long runs on Saturdays and Sundays for right now. I’m going to run casually, and then mid-May, I’ll probably revamp it.”
He’s already raised over $13,000 for One Mission, which exceeds his goal, so he expects to take a temporary break from fundraising. Then he thinks he might pick it back up, but for now, he’s going to ease back and regroup.
Once he finally gets to run alongside his dad, he knows the extra wait will all be worth it.
“The Marathon holds a special place in my heart,” Zach said. “It’s something I always thought about doing, but I never saw it come to fruition.”
Julie Rohnstock is using the extra time to physically and mentally prepare.
Watching runners power forward as they approached Boylston Street at the Marathon in 2016 gave Julie Rohnstock motivation.
She turned to her friend and said, “One day, I’m going to run it.”
That started out as a dream, but it eventually morphed into a reality. Rohnstock, 26, of Scituate, is running to support STEM education through the Museum of Science.
Julie Rohnstock is hoping to use the opportunity to train even more.
Rohnstock, a fourth-grade teacher, has trained diligently by going on long runs, taking boxing classes, doing cross-training, and lifting weights, among other activities. She felt ready, but this is her first marathon, so she plans to use the extra time to prepare both physically and mentally.
“It’s six more months of training and extra time where I can work on improving my timing for the runs and my conditioning,” Rohnstock said. “If anything, I can just be faster on race day and be more prepared.”
She’s raised $7,200, and is getting close to her goal of $7,500. She plans to have more fundraising events over the summer, and she’s looking forward to that day when it finally comes.
“When the marathon actually happens,” Rohnstock said, “I will have trained for almost a year.”
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