This time last year, Miranda Hellman had never run more than a mile in her life.
As a fourth-year student in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences’ Masters’ program with three jobs, including being a resident assistant in West Campus, Hellman already had a plenty to be worried about. The Florida native preferred spending the little free time she had in her schedule napping.
The summer of 2010 changed everything.
Hellman was working as a camp counselor at a session for children with cancer when she met Brandon, a camper with leukemia.
“He was such a cool kid,” Hellman said in a phone interview. “He was super in touch with the meaning of life.”
Devoted to fighting cancer, Brandon decided to organize a hair cutting ceremony for the entire camp, Hellman said.
“He asked me to donate my hair,” she said. “If I donated it, it would be a pixie cut bob and I didn’t have the balls to pull it off. So I said, ‘No I’m not gonna do this but you know what, there’s this marathon and I promise I’ll raise money for leukemia and lymphoma [by running].”
Though she wasn’t entirely serious at the time, Hellman said when Brandon died a month after camp ended, she knew she had to fulfill her promise to him.
After months of training for six days a week, Hellman, who ran for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, ran the Boston Marathon on Monday with thousands of other participants.
Hellman is not the only member of the Boston University community who participated in the 26.2 mile run.
Associate professor of mathematics and statistics Diane Meuser ran the marathon, too. But unlike Hellman, Meuser was not new to running.
Monday’s marathon marked her 27th since the early 1980s, when she first began competing.
“There’s this term, ‘runner’s high’ and it’s true,” she said in a phone interview. “I think there’s just this Zen-like state you go into when you’re running, at least for me. I think that’s the best way to describe it…especially now-a-days in today’s age when everyone is constantly connected to other people by cell phones.”
Because of her extensive running background, Meuser sported her name, rather than a number, on her shirt.
Though she teaches most of the week, Meuser said she can’t go a day without running.
“It’s more difficult for me not to run than it is to run,” she said. “If I go two days without a run that’s when I start getting irritable.”
In the past, Meuser said she’s even coached some BU students to run in the marathon.
“The best advice to give for anyone who is running their first marathon is just to have fun and not try to obtain some time or something,” she said.
College of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Ginny Soskey also took part in the marathon, running alongside her boyfriend and the Tufts Univesrity Marathon Team, which raised money for the Tufts School of Nutrition.
Because of Soskey’s busy schedule, the public relations and psychology double major said her training was never routine.
“Some days I run in the morning and others I run at night,” she said in an email interview. “Sometimes I go for a two or three mile run, sometimes I go for 15 miles. Some days I don’t run at all. No matter what, I am always working toward my goal of 26.2 miles.”
“I had been training for the half marathon in October and I thought why not? How often will I have this chance?” Soskey said on her decision to compete. “I decided I wanted to run because I wanted to push myself to my limit.”
College of Fine Arts doctoral candidate Nikoma Baccus, who ran for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, said her favorite part about running is how it makes her feel.
“I like how it always makes me feel better physically and mentally and overcoming challenges is something I seek out in my daily life,” she said in an email interview. “The adrenaline rush is pretty nice, too.”
But Baccus said the marathon is not limited to avid runners.
“I truly feel that with dedication and mental persistence, anyone can complete a marathon in their lifetime,” she said. “It may not be the way you have envisioned it, but it can happen. Mental toughness is underestimated these days.”
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