When I tell people I am training for and running my second Boston Marathon, they assume I have been running and training for a while. I now consider and call myself a runner but before I started training last January I had never run more than 3 miles at any given time.  

Let me back up and tell you how I, who had never run more than a few miles, decided to do this completely insane thing of training for and running The Boston Marathon.

At the end of 2020, I was in a pretty low place mentally, the pandemic was spiking again, our mother's health was failing fast, and I was terminated from a job I had for almost ten years. As I was trying to manage and move through those tough dark days,  my now late brother Joe, suggested I try running to help support my mental health. After witnessing the positive impact running was having on his life, I decided to buy my first pair of running shoes and hit Austin's Town Lake Trail.

A month later, on January 14th, 2021, after two weeks in ICU, my mother passed away from complications due to her lung cancer. To help cope with her death, my now daily jogs around Town Lake became one of the outlets for my grief.  

Five months later, on June 17th, not too long after I started working a new job, my brother Joseph, who suffered from depression/mental illness and had a long history of addiction, died of a Fentanyl drug overdose. 

For the last two years prior to his death, my brother was clean for the longest he had been in his adult life. He was a proud and engaged member of the Boston Bulldogs Running Club. Sadly, even though he saw his light, after the death of our mother his darkness became too much for him and he started using again, this time it was fatal. 

So, when my brother's mentor and coach called me shortly before Christmas ('21) and asked if I wanted to run the Boston Marathon in honor of my brother, my first thought was hell no, then the tears flowed from my eyes, and Hell Yes came out of my mouth.  And that's how I became a proud member of the 2022 Boston Bulldogs Marathon Team and my daily jogs turned into training for a marathon.

Now with one training season under my belt, and holding that memorable feeling of crossing that finish line last year on Boylston Street, I am approaching this training season with confidence and experience.  Running has become a major tool in my life belt. Running paired with my mindfulness practice is helping me to keep my head above and navigate the waves of grief and trauma. 

I was so deep in the sea of grief last year, I hardly considered myself at all.  Training and running of the marathon were all done with my late brother in mind. This year I decided to commit to training for, fundraising and running Boston for myself. I want to see what I can do, what my mind and forty-eight-year-old body can do. 

With every training mile, I am still holding and honoring the memory of my late brother Joseph along with the countless souls we have lost to addiction and their friends and family. 

The Boston Bulldogs Running Club are so much more than a running club. They are an organization, a group of kind-hearted warriors who are helping to provide a safe community for all those who are adversely affected by addiction and mental illness. This includes people in recovery, their friends and family, and others who have lost someone to the insidious disease.

Since I am a CHARITY RUNNER,  I have to raise $10k to run my second  Boston Marathon. 

100% of the money raised goes directly to the Bulldogs and all the work they do in the wellness and recovery community through their 501c3 org. All donations are tax deductible.  

HERE is a link to my fundraising page to donate. Every dollar counts, no amount is too small. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my story, I am sharing my story to  help bring awareness and remove the stigma associated with the need for  Mental Health, Addiction, death by Drug Overdose and remind those in need, that WE DO RECOVER! 

WE CAN DO HARD THINGS!

with gratitude, 

Jo Ann 

She/They

Non-Binary Runner

BIB# 25268 - track me on race day on B.A.A. Racing app