BU sophomore turns Hopkinton roots into Marathon finish

Judy Walsh-McLean still remembers the day that her daughter, Rachel McLean, got cut from her high school field hockey team. McLean took it hard, and she joined the cross country team instead. The change was one of necessity and not desire, but it united her with a newfound passion — running.

Come the moment when McLean crossed the 2016 Boston Marathon’s finish line 4:38:00 after she embarked from her hometown of Hopkinton, those gloomy days were nowhere to be found. Rather, the sophomore in Boston University’s College of Communication, along with competitors from all corners of the globe, closed the book on months of training and preparation.

Ryan McLean, Rachel’s brother who flew in from South Carolina for the race, said the siblings would joke about running the marathon when they were younger, and those projections became reality on Monday.

“I can’t even begin to describe or put into words how awesome it was to see her come running down Boylston Street knowing that she had done it and knowing that the finish line was right there,” Ryan McLean said.

Rachel McLean, who first entertained the thought of running her first 26.2-mile race as a junior in high school, has truly found a new calling. She recently completed the 39th Annual Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women and a half marathon in Newton, and she has been enrolled in the marathon class at BU’s Fitness and Recreation Center since the spring 2015 semester. She has also blogged her training efforts since January, and the marathon itself was a big part of her childhood.

McLean would go with friends and family to the same area in Hopkinton each year and high-five waves of runners as they strode past. Her mom even remembers when her toddler-aged daughter was in a stroller one year at the marathon and was interviewed by a reporter. McLean joked that she’d join the men and women she was cheering on one day, not aware that she was foreshadowing at the time.

“She inspires me,” Walsh-McLean said. “… I thought maybe she was going to cry when she finished because she kept saying she felt like she was on the verge of it, but she didn’t. I think she was just too tired and [this feat] might hit her. I’m thinking it might hit her in another day or two.”

While the 20 year old’s accomplishment was physically trying, she had extra motivation in the form of charity. Since McLean didn’t qualify through another marathon, she received a number in honor of the 26.2 Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to promote and support the sport of marathoning.

The organization previously ran a program for disadvantaged youth and built the track and bleachers of a school in Hopkinton. McLean said she’s proud to represent something that will have such a tangible effect on the town that shaped her in so many positive ways.

“It’s so exciting to be contributing to my town and to be doing this event I’ve been watching since I’ve been really young,” McLean said. “I’ve been to almost every single marathon start, and now I actually [participated].”

McLean noted in the marathon’s buildup that she expected an emotional finish “because you only run your first marathon once,” and she even joked about one day wanting to run a marathon in all 50 states. She’s a long way from that point, but it helped this year having her mother and roommate, Julie Mackay, yelling words of encouragement near the Boylston Street finish line.

Just like every other BU student, McLean, who is majoring in both journalism and public relations, will ready herself for finals in the coming weeks. But for the time being, she’ll cherish an occasion that few get to experience.

“I know it meant a lot to her,” Walsh-McLean said. “As her mother, I think about how you have a bucket list of things that you want to do. The fact that she’s only 20 and she’s already achieved that, I think that’s really cool.”