Dedham Resident to Run Last Leg of One Run for Boston Relay

Last year, Dedham native Brian Keaney was just five minutes from the finish line of the Boston Marathon when two explosions put an abrupt end to the event. 

"You can imagine how frustrating it was," said Keaney, who ran the marathon wearing a burger suit as part of B.Good's Burger Brigade, a team of runners raising money to support entrepreneurs, charitable leaders and everyday people. 

"For me, personally, running the Boston Marathon is something I've always wanted to do," Keaney said. "This is my first marathon that I ever ran, and the fact that I got so close and didn't get to finish was incredibly frustrating, but then you think about the people who died and who were injured."

While he wasn't able to finish the race that day in April, Keaney was eventually able to cross the finish line on July 1 as part of the first-ever One Run For Boston, an event he'd just heard about days before and decided to join spontaneously as runners arrived on Boylston Street. 

"It took me 76 days, 12 hours, and 55 minutes, but at 12:45 a.m. on Monday, July 1, I got across the line," he said. "It was the middle of the night and Boylston Street was wet after a summer rain, so you know it was gross. Getting across that line obviously meant a lot to me. I've said ever since that I don't think my fee touched the ground all during that run, I floated all the way down to the finish."

Last year, the One Run put a stamp on the map as the first non-stop relay from Los Angeles to Boston. More than 2,000 runners participated in the 3,300-mile journey, raising $91,000 for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, according to the OneRunForBoston.com website.

Three runners from Britain gave birth to the idea to show their support for those impacted by the tragic events at the marathon last year. And this year, while he won't be running in the actual Boston Marathon, Keaney will be officially running the last leg of the One Run For Boston as it arrives the week leading up to the marathon itself. 

"It means a lot to me personally that there's a group of people who are doing this," he said. "These are people from Arizona who have no connection to Boston, but who are willing to run in the desert in the middle of the night. This, I think, is the triumph of the human spirit. They're connected by running, running groups get involved. It's awesome when you think about it." 

To support Keaney and donate to his efforts, visit www.onerunforboston.org/u/BurgerBrian. To learn more about the One Run for Boston, visit www.onerunforboston.org.