4891 1/5 Barry, Michael S. 24 M Hopkinton MA USA USA   19281 3/2 Bauer, Kara 45 F Hopkinton MA USA USA   25400 3/8 Blomberg, Benedikt 38 M Hopkinton MA USA GER   554 1/1 Branch, Steve Cliff 46 M Hopkinton MA USA USA   23734 3/6 Brese, Nate E. 46 M Hopkinton MA USA USA   22050 3/5 Breslin, Jennifer V. 40 F Hopkinton MA USA USA   25223 3/8 Bushe, Susan 43 F Hopkinton MA USA USA   13022 2/5 Camille, Barry E. 54 M Hopkinton MA USA USA   9682 2/1 Casady, Ilana A. 34 F Hopkinton MA USA USA   22840 3/5 Champlin, Annabel D. 35 F Hopkinton MA USA USA   22841 3/5 Clarke, Natasha A. 36 F Hopkinton MA …

Glenn Strickland has never been a time-qualified runner, but due to the generosity of the Boston Athletic Association, he will be able to run his 15th Boston Marathon as a member of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge Team.  The DFMC runs the 26.2-mile race to raise money for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research.  Each year, Strickland runs to honor someone important to him.  He is proud to announce that this year he will be dedicating his run to his special friend Kevin Stewart who has been waging war against brain cancer for the past year and is fighting a good …

Wade Marshall has run the Boston Marathon twice in the past, one marathon in Maine and another in Vermont. “I've been running as long as I can remember although I am a slow runner and proud of it,” says Marshall.  Although he usually runs by himself during training, Marshall gets some long runs in with other team members for Boston's Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Marshall grew up in Maine  and has lived in Hopkinton for 13 years with his wife Susan who is a triathlete, his two daughters and their 12-year-old golden retriever, Millie.      

Although Mark Valutkevich has been running since the late '80s, he only became serious about running long distances recently. Mark decided he wanted to run the Boston Marathon.  After completing the Boston Half Marathon in October 2009, he signed up to run the full 2010 Marathon soon thereafter.  Valutkevich has been in training mode for this year’s marathon since September.  He runs an average of four days during the week from three to seven miles. He does a longer run on Saturdays. “Last time around I primarily trained alone as I was traveling a lot for work," Valutkevich said. "This year I…

Jay Crochiere has been running since he participated in Cross Country and Track in high school. For the past four months, Crochiere has been doing lots of running outdoors, playing indoor soccer and going skiing as forms of training for the 2011 Boston Marathon. Crochiere is married with three kids who he is very proud of. He is in charge of sales for a dynamic, rapidly growing IT Systems Integrator in Burlington.  He is also an avid coach for baseball, soccer, lacrosse and basketball.  When he finds some free time, he loves to travel.

Karen O’Neil started running as her primary form of exercise after her second son was born 14 years ago.  She liked the simplicity of running. She could just put on her shoes and go.  Besides two Boston Marathons, she also ran the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C., the  Cape Cod Marathon and the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon.  She qualified for Boston at the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2009. “I feel fortunate to have gotten through on the BAA website that first day registration opened to claim my number," she said. "I'm not sure I'll have another chance to run as a qualifier given the new …

As the Medical Director for the Hopkinton Fire Department, Jeff Hopkins has been at the start line every year for the past eight years. Twice he has been there as a runner. Six times he has provided medical oversight at the Start Line and Hopkinton Town Common with the Hopkinton Fire Department. “I can say without hesitation that we are truly fortunate to have such an outstanding paramedic service and well-organized fire department in our town," Hopkins says. "The medics and firefighters provide top-notch care not only on race day, but all year long." Hopkins grew up in Westborough, went to …

As a quote lover, one of James Murphy’s favorites is from Randy Pausch, a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University.  “It’s not about how to achieve your dreams.  It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself.  The dreams will come to you.” Murphy’s life includes his wife Allison who was his college sweetheart.  Their life also includes their three very active and wonderful, young boys.  Murphy is running to set an example for his boys although his oldest son …

When Hopkintion pastor Rob Davis turned 50, someone in their 20s inspired him and trained with him to run the Boston Marathon for Hopkinton's Michael Lisnow Respite Center*. Although he has a hard time keeping up with all the running language - words like pace, lactic threshold** and VO2 max***,  Rob runs six days a week,  beginning in December.  Luckily his wife Liz is an incredible fan, companion and helper.  She regularly rides her bike with Davis and passes him Gatorade. He also has a teenage daughter who is a track star. “When I finished Boston (last year), I had a flood of mixed …

Margaret Kennedy is the mother of three teenagers. One is in college. One is almost there. And one is in high school. But Margaret still finds time to run a major marathon each year.  Besides her 14 Boston Marathons, she has also run the Hartford Marathon. Kennedy trains all year long, but starts her Boston Marathon training in January when she begins adding miles to her long run on weekends.  She runs about three times a week and cross-trains with swimming and strength training.  She also uses a stair-treadmill and stationary bike. When she isn’t running herself, Margaret works as a personal…

Having started running in 1999 with the San Francisco Marathon, Deb Thomas is now getting ready to run her fifth Boston Marathon.  She has also run New York (twice), Philadelphia and the Marine Corps marathons.  She trains for 16 weeks and follows the FIRST (Furman Institute of Research and Scientific Training) program). She runs three days per week by doing a tempo run, a speed workout and a long run up to 20 miles. Thomas is a member of the Hopkinton Running Club and enjoys running Reach the Beach each fall with her fellow HRC members.  For the last two years, she has also been on an Ultra …

Champlin started running in 2007 after her sister convinced her to sign up for the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco with Team in Training. The sisters ran in memory of their father who passed away in January 2005 after a 13-month battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. “I had literally never run a mile in my life except for in the eighth grade when it was required to pass gym class," says Champlin. "I didn't even know that a marathon was 26.2 miles until after I signed up!” After running her first marathon in 2007, Champlin decided to run again the following year in her first Boston Marathon…

When Natasha Clarke took up jogging seven years ago she couldn’t run longer than a mile.  Now, all these years later and after five months of training, she is getting ready to run 25.2 miles longer. Clarke’s training includes lots of miles of running every day as well as doing some yoga. She joins teammates Kathleen Fraser and Annabel Champlin as part of Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Through a joint fundraiser with the Dana-Farber team,  more than $21,000 was raised to help find a cure for cancer. In her spare time, Clarke enjoys photography and truly believes that …

If Mike McNamara did not live in Hopkinton, he probably never would have run the Boston Marathon.  "Living in town, it’s hard not to get excited about the Marathon," McNamara said.  "In the past, several of my friends have run the Marathon and I was just a spectator," he said.  "When I turned 40, I decided to give it a try." Before he started training for Boston, the furthest Mike had ever run was 5 miles.  Now, he trains for 18 weeks where he runs four days a week, with a long run on Saturdays. He  also cross-trains one day.   Mike also lift weights four days a week.  Each year he tries to …

In the fall of 1995, Mike Hovagimian began training for the 100th Boston Marathon.  Each year, since then, he starts focusing on training right around Christmas.   This year he has cut back to two or three runs per week, totaling 20-30 miles.  “As I get older, managing the training so that I’m fit enough to cover the distance, while avoiding a potentially derailing injury, becomes a delicate balance,” says Hovagimian. Crossing the finish line has always mattered more to Hovagimian than his time.  He would rather run slightly undertrained and injury-free than miss crossing the finish line due …

Although she has been running for nine years, the first time Kathleen Fraser ran a long distance was a half-marathon in June. Now she trains by doing short runs during the week and one long run on Saturdays to get ready for her longest race ever. Last month, along with her friends Annabel Champlin and Natasha Clarke, who are part of her team, Kathleen joined the trio's friends from Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to hold a fundraiser. Through the generosity of local businesses and their friends and family, the event raised groups more than $21,000 to help in the fight against cancer.  …

After Hopkinton's Bill Cooper lost both his parents to cancer within 13 months of each other, he and his wife Kim decided to honor them by joining the Boston Marathon Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge last year. The Hopkinton couple began their mission to raise money to help find a cure for cancer. Last week, the couple teamed up with friends running for Team in Training and held a fundraiser for Dana-Farber and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society raising more than $21,000. Although both Coopers always ran for exercise, their decision to run a marathon was not easy. They have three children who keep …

Having played college basketball, Hopkinton's Jen Breslin went on to become a high school teacher and coach. More recently, she decided to become a stay-at-home mom raising her three kids. This year, she is moving on to yet another accomplishment by running the Boston Marathon. After having her third child and moving to Hopkinton, Breslin started competing first in 5K, then 10K races, and then half-marathons. She is now set to run her first full marathon. Breslin follows the Dana Farber team's training schedule by running four days a week, including a longer run on Saturday mornings.  She …

For 25 years, Hopkinton's Brian Herr has been running year 'round to train for the Boston Marathon.   Each January, he starts to take it up a few notches, leading up to a 20-mile run 2-3 weeks before the Boston Marathon. He met his wife Mary Murphy (Hopkinton Patch reporter) while running the Marathon. "We have five active, healthy and opinionated children that keep us young and quite busy," says Herr. Brian is a founding member and former chairman of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge which, since 1990, has raised $50 million for Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has run in the …

Ann-Michele Dragsbaek grew up in Hopkinton watching the start of the Boston Marathon every year. But Ann-Michele never believed she would ever be running it herself. Ann-Michele started running as a way to exercise about 15 years ago. She quickly got hooked on how great it made her feel. Now she is getting ready to run her fifth Boston Marathon. As a mother of four, she wants to set a good example for them through her dedication to running. When she finds time and energy to run in all kinds of crazy weather, she knows it will help them to find time to do the things they want in their busy …