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Why I'm running
The 108th Boston Marathon — countdown to Monday, April 19, 2004
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Domenick D'Amico and a friend after the 2002 Chicago Marathon. |
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This year I will be running in my 6th consecutive Boston Marathon — and my 17th marathon to date. The Boston Marathon has a special meaning for me; as a member of the Boston Children's Hospital Kids at Heart Marathon Team, I'm paired with a patient partner. That's the only goal I need to finish the race. To know that you are running for someone, and that person will be on the course that day cheering you on, is an amazing feeling.
Children's Hospital has two cheering sections on the course: one in Wellesley, just beyond the half-marathon point, and one at the St. Mary's T stop in Brookline. I know that no matter how I feel that day, I need to get to those two places.
Each year I like to do something different in my training for Boston to help improve my finish time. This year I've used BU's Athletic Enhancement Center and worked with Charles McCormick, its director and head strength coach. The AEC program provides a complete and integrated approach to an athlete's development through strength and conditioning and injury prevention training, and helps build better runners through training, nutrition, and sports psychology. The program caters to all ability levels — from people who are running in their first marathon to seasoned marathoners.
Because of this training, this year I feel stronger and more confident. I know that the race always comes down to one day, which makes running marathons one of the hardest events in which to compete.
—Domenick D'Amico, a desktop computer specialist in the MED Office of Information Technology
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Christina Mork and 25 other runners are members of the Saucony 26 team, created to honor the different motivations people have to run; each member represents one mile of the marathon's 26.2-mile course. Mork receives a pair of running shoes from Saucony. Photo by Phoebe Sexton (CAS'06) |
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When I first moved to Boston, I was surprised by the Patriots' Day holiday and decided to take advantage of it by going to see the finishers of the Boston Marathon. I was amazed at the huge crowd of fans and could only glimpse the runners on a large TV screen that was set up above Copley Square. I decided to train for a marathon after that. After successfully completing one, I was hooked. I qualified for Boston last November in Philadelphia. This year's marathon will be my fourth.
Training for a marathon definitely helps with stress management: I sleep better and have more energy to get through the day. It also gives me a feeling of accomplishment. I run in the morning — normally a four-mile route — before I go to the lab. Besides being busy in the lab and training for the marathon, I'm also a GK-12 Project STAMP fellow in the honors and biology labs at North Quincy High School.
As an added bonus, my family is coming from Seattle to cheer me on at this year's marathon.
—Christina Mork, third-year graduate student in MED's cell and molecular biology program
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Members of the 2004 Boston University Marathon Club stretch before a recent training run. They are (from left) Katelyn O'Hara (CAS'05), Adrienne Pereira (CAS'05, COM'05), Victoria Garcia (SAR'04), and Paul DeGennaro (CAS'04). Not pictured are Manasi Chitre (CAS'04), Nicole DePontbriond (COM'04), Lauren Fackelman (CAS'06), Matt Fletcher (COM'05), Heather Percyz (SMG'04), and support team members (nonrunners) Tara Sigovich (SED'04) and Patricia Townsley (CAS'04). Photo by Phoebe Sexton (CAS'06) |
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The Boston University Marathon Club made its debut at the 2003 Boston Marathon. Club members were sponsored by outside contributors and raised close to $4,500 for Rosie's Place, a Boston women's shelter.
This year, according to Victoria Garcia (SAR'04), club president, the group of about a dozen students is raising money to support Sharon Cermak, a Sargent College professor of rehabilitation sciences, and her work at the Bucegi Orphanage in Romania. Cermak has been active in Romania since 1992, when she participated as a member of the Heal the World medical relief tour. BU students from programs in occupational therapy, public health, and the health sciences have often traveled to Romania with her. At the orphanage, Cermak trains the caregivers of the orphans — who range from newborn to three years old — helps supply the rundown orphanage with new equipment, which is often built by BU students, provides donated toys, and offers her expertise in improving the cognitive, emotional, and social development of the children.
For more information or to support the BU Marathon Club, contact Garcia at garciav@bu.edu. Donations can be sent to Patricia Townsley, 708 Commonwealth Ave., BU Box 2, Boston 02215; checks should be made out to BU Marathon Club.
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March 2004
Boston University
Office of University Relations