Holy Cross Community Members Prepare for the Boston Marathon

As participants finish their final week of training and Boston readies itself for thousands of spectators, College of the Holy Cross community members are preparing themselves physically and mentally to run the Boston Marathon.

Students and alumni agree there is no better place to train for the Boston Marathon than the hills of Mount Saint James. "I started very slowly, and it was painful," Amy Mullen ’09 tells the Telegram & Gazette, remembering the beginning of her running career during her senior year.

Mullen, a manager at the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership (MBHP), first got involved in the quest for affordable housing for all as a senior at Holy Cross. With the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Mullen traveled to San Antonio, where she pitched in to help families with utility and rent assistance.

Mullen has raised more than $5,000 for MBHP.  Read the entire story at Telegram.com.

Fellow alumna Marissa O’Neil ’08 will also be running the marathon for the first time. “I will be supporting team Project Hope, a local organization that serves to provide support and aid for impoverished women and families,” says O’Neil.

Current student Timothy Driscoll ’16 will also be running the marathon for the first time. “My grandmother passed away in January, and I’m running for the South Shore Hospital in her honor,” he says.

Amanda Corbett Beaver '03, leadership giving officer at Holy Cross, will also be lacing up her marathon sneakers for the first time, to run for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: "I wanted to do something for myself, that was also a good example for my children. Cancer seems to touch everyone somehow these days, and I want to raise awareness and raise funds to help support necessary research so that there are more stories with happier endings."

Senior and blogger for the Holy Cross website, Andrew Cook ’15 is running the marathon for his third time: “The first time I did it was the year of the bombings, and since then it's just become a huge part of my identity,” says Cook.

Cook adds the marathon is the perfect way to complete his Holy Cross experience. “I wasn't 100 percent sure about whether or not I was going to do it this year, but I realized it would be my last time to do it as a current Crusader. I thought it would be a nice way to ring out my college years with a sense of completion. So this running is very much for Holy Cross, in my books. The official marathon color this year is purple, too: it was a sign.”

Sheila Monaghan ’04 is no stranger to the Boston Marathon, “This will be my sixth consecutive Boston Marathon and my 18th marathon overall,” she says.

Good luck to all members of the Holy Cross community:

Amy Lussier '08

Dana Farber: Maureen Bolton '94 Kathleen Childs '89 Dick Correa '69 Rich Horgan '76 Bill Kelly ’92 Lauren Krzynowek '06 Brian Mullaney '95 Sheila Walsh Rita Malley '13

Children's Hospital: Timothy McQuade '03 Katie Landry '08 Leanne Goffredo '08 Timothy Hoppe '03

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: Allison Wiggin Paolisso '06 Amanda Corbett Beaver '03, leadership giving officer at Holy Cross

Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts: Meghan Kenney '06

Golf Fights Cancer Brian Oates '93

Tenacity George Doherty '85