I have run 7 Marathons and the 2025 Boston Marathon will be my number 8.  I am running it together with 5 of my Texas Running Gals and raising funds for the BWH Stepping Strong Center.  We are not just individual runners, but each an individual that makes our group whole. By doing this together, we will have the support, training accountability and encouragement we can give each other, since we will be training in Texas instead of Boston. 

I started running at age 40 in 2013 and am now 51, that makes 11 years.  I knew I had to do something to get fit and be more active.  I never expected to find lifelong friends starting in my 40s.  We are together all the time.  We run 5 days a week together, have breakfasts, lunches, and dinners together weekly.  We travel together around the world for races. I am not a fast runner, but my heart is there for each experience of the run.   To run a Boston Marathon is an amazing opportunity I want us to do together and by raising funds for this great charity.

No matter how hard, how hot, how difficult an early AM run in Texas can be, the beauty of a sunrise and knowing your body can get up and run.  Trauma victims and patients need medical attention and procedures that these funds are being raised to get them back out there to see their sunrises.

In 2013, Boston was changed forever when a beautiful Marathon Monday turned into a senseless tragedy. Gillian Reny, then a high school senior, was one of 39 critically injured patients rushed to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where doctors and nurses saved her life and legs. With gratitude to the Brigham, the Reny family established The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation to help other trauma patients regain their strength and ability to step strong once again.

The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation aims to catalyze trauma innovation for injured civilians and military heroes through multidisciplinary investigative collaborations across the continuum of trauma care, from prevention to treatment and recovery. Stepping Strong-funded initiatives are making a profound impact on trauma survivors and their families worldwide. The center has raised more than $30 million to fuel trauma research, advance education, build community, and inspire advocacy. But much more needs to be done.

The Stepping Strong Center remains committed to serving as a leader in trauma research and innovation to bridge this gap and advance the field of trauma care. When you support a member of the Brigham's Stepping Strong Boston Marathon Team, you are helping the center turn tragedy into hope for civilians and military heroes worldwide who have suffered devastating traumatic injuries.

Brigham and Women's Hospital is a proud partner of the Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program.