2012 Deferred FPC Runners Ready to Take on 2013!

The 2012 Boston Marathon was one of the hotter Bostons on record. With day-of race temperatures pushing 90 degrees, the Boston Athletic Association offered the option of deferrment for any runners that were registered. While this was a contraversial decision to some, for others this provided an outlet to help them begin the healing process of some serious training injuries.

2012 team member Elizabeth Belcher is back for a "take two" and is looking forward to completing her original goal of running 26.2 miles instead of watching from the sidelines. Though deferment was not an easy option, it was the perfect option for her in 2012.  After six months of physical therapy combined with a torturous zero-running stint, Elizabeth is eager to jump back into training and complete two milestones this spring: graduating from Wheelock College and running the Boston Marathon for FPC. Both feats took her more time than she anticipated; nevertheless, Elizabeth conjured the motivation to keep persisting despite various setbacks.

Our other deferred teammate to return is Owen Kendall. Simply put, he loves running. He thinks it’s the best metaphor he’s ever found for life - or life for it: if you work at it a little bit every day, you improve, but even while you’re improving, you’ll have some rough patches here and there. Owen is one of the cofounders of Forest Hills Runners, a free community running group that runs through Franklin Park every week. He’s therefore running for the Franklin Park Coalition (FPC) because he thinks Franklin Park an awesome place and, as a third year medical student at Boston University interested in preventative medicine, he hugely admires what the FPC does. Obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure (all linked) are the leading causes of illness not only in this country, but worldwide, even though they can be controlled through consistent exercise. One major reason these things are so common today is that young people and adults alike frequently don’t have safe places to run around and be active. Owen loves what the FPC is doing to consistently improve the park for all Bostonians, while also introducing Franklin Park and all it has to offer to a more diverse population. He couldn’t be happier running the 2013 Boston Marathon for the FPC to raise awareness for the wonderful work they do.