The 1.6 mile loop around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir eventually led Annie Murphy, CSOM ’23, to run the 2022 Boston Marathon. Murphy said she first got into running during her freshman year because of the Res.
“I just kind of fell in love with it, just because it was so pretty and I ended up starting to run around it and then realized that I love running in general,” Murphy said.
When her family friend working at the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation approached her in late February with an available bib, Murphy said she could not turn down the opportunity. Murphy said her family friend knew that she had always wanted to run the marathon, and although it was late, she decided to begin training.
“Being from Foxborough, I’ve known about this organization for over like 10 years,” Murphy said. “And I really liked it because it’s sort of different in the sense that it … raises money and then gives it to smaller charities around New England that aren’t as well known.”
Through mass text chains and personalized messages, Murphy said her family, Boston College friends, and friends from home helped her to meet her fundraising goal.
Murphy said that she found a sense of community while training with the other runners for the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. During her training, Murphy said that she overcame a knee injury that thankfully healed quickly.
“You’d meet at the Prudential Center at like seven in the morning on a Saturday and you’d get to run with a bunch of different people,” Murphy said. “It was a little community and you can make friends and meet people on your own team, so that was really cool.”
Throughout the race Murphy said that she received texts from her friends and family letting her know where they were standing, which helped to motivate her along the way.
“When I started to come down Comm Ave. after Linden Lane, it was just the coolest experience seeing all my friends and hearing him scream, and it totally got me through the last bit of the marathon,” Murphy said. “So that was totally the hardest part but seeing them just rejuvenated me.”
