Members of BU community prepare to run marathon

Boston University College of Arts and Sciences freshman Ian Paolo Mauricio said he is running the 2012 Boston Marathon to honor a loved one who died two years ago.

“She was a family friend who took care of me,” he said. “She was like a second mother to me.”

Mauricio is one of several members of the BU community running in this year’s 26.2-mile Boston Marathon.

Mauricio, who began running in August 2011, is raising money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

College of General Studies freshman Tyler Shapiro and School of Education Professor Amanda Sommerfeld are also running for charities.

Shapiro is raising money for the American Medical Association and Sommerfeld is raising money for the Action Center for Educational Services and Scholarships.

“It’s a great program,” Sommerfeld said. “It provides financial counseling and education for high school students around the Boston area so that they can have access to college.”

Sommerfeld ran in last year’s Boston Marathon and the 2005 Chicago Marathon.

Mauricio ran a half-marathon in November, but neither he nor Shapiro has run a full marathon before.

“I really just started running, maybe a few months ago,” Shapiro said.

The most important aspect, Shapiro said, was making sure he would be prepared to complete two long-distance runs before Marathon Monday. He completed her longest runs about five weeks ago, clocking in at 16 miles and then 19 miles.

Sommerfield said she trained with a fellow group of participants supporting educational charities known as the Marathon Coalition.

“Every week starting in December, we do our weekly long runs together and we get tips,” she said.

Mauricio said he feels excited to run before the crowd on Monday.

“I’m also looking forward to my floor in Warren [Towers] cheering for me and the BU Filipino Student Association,” he said.

Shapiro is running with his mother. He said his whole family is in flying from San Francisco to support them.

“My mom has run the marathon before,” he said. “She’s pretty crazy. She does Iron Man races and runs up volcanoes.”

Sommerfeld said support from her students last year was a great help.

“I didn’t know they were going to be there, and it was just the most amazing thing,” she said. “That was one point where I nearly started crying.”

Mauricio said training for the marathon taught him the importance of willpower.

“To see it finally happen, to see myself finish the race, this is what my eyes have been set on,” he said. “I think setting my sight on a goal proved to me that you can really do anything you set your mind to.”

Shapiro said he encourages other students to try running the Boston Marathon.

“It’s a great way to get into shape,” he said. “And if you can support something at the same time, all the better.”

Sommerfeld said the marathon was a good way to learn how to give back.

“There just so happens to be amazing ways we can transform what we do for ourselves and things that can benefit the world around us,” she said. “I think that something we should challenge ourselves to do is figure out how things can be meaningful, not just to us, but to others as well.”