Sports

Dedham Runner Returning to Boston Marathon With Purpose, Excitement

Jenny Crisp, who was not able to finish in 2013 due to the Boston Marathon bombings, is returning this year to support pediatric hematology and oncology research.

Jenny Crisp is preparing to run her second Boston Marathon. 

The 25-year-old lifelong Dedham resident said she is also looking forward crossing the finish line this year, something she was not able to do in 2013 due to the Boston Marathon bombings. 

"It was very chaotic," recalled Crisp, 25, who had just turned onto Hereford Street in 2013 when runners all of a sudden stopped. "No one knew what was going on. There were people everywhere. A lot of people at Brownstone were providing runners with food and water. We were getting fold and no one's cell phones worked. It took my family two to three hours to find me."

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Despite the chaos in 2013, Crisp never hesitated to know she'd be at it again, running the Boston Marathon in 2014.

"At the second that I didn't get to finish last year, I knew I would be running this year," Crisp told Dedham Patch. "I'm not afraid at all. I think it's going to be the best marathon to run. It's one of my biggest goals."

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Crisp, a pediatric nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, will be running with the MGH Marathon Team to benefit research of pediatric hematology and oncology. 

"I work as a nurse on the floor that a lot of the hematology and oncology patients go to," she said. "I see first-hand how hard it is. That's what gets me through the marathon, thinking about them and how they fight."

As a first time runner in 2013, Crisp had to raise $5,000, she said. While she only has to raise $1,000 this year, she has set a personal goal of $4,000. Moreover, the team she is running with organizes a patient-partner program, as part of which the marathoners run for a particular patient undergoing chemotherapy. Those patients serve as the runners' heroes, Crisp said, and at the end of the event, the patients are awarded medals.

Last year, Crisp ran for a 12-year-old patient who had osteosarcoma. That patient is currently doing well and is cancer-free, Crisp said. 

As far as preparations go, while the marathon itself is still a good three months off, Crisp's training is well underway; she is currently up to 15 miles, she said. 

"Our team has a few coaches, and they made workout plans for us," she said. "They are following the workout calendars, and usually they do group runs on the weekend, and Wednesday and Thursday nights they do hill runs at Heartbreak Hill. It's going really well."

To support Crisp's team and efforts at this year's Boston Marathon, visit her fundraising page here.


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