By Amara Grautski
It’s 7:30 on a Saturday morning and a heavy mist lingers above the streets of downtown Boston. The red brick sidewalks, usually burdened with the hustle and bustle of corporate climbers, are empty. It’s quiet. Only rolling tumbleweed could complete the image of this early morning ghost town.
Suddenly, two figures rounding Beacon Street stand out against the fog. They’re running in perfect unison, like a snapshot from a Nike ad.
Middler Katie Jerdee and Northeastern alumnus Andy Butler, friends of three years, are fresh off the T from the Park Street station and on their way to meet a group of other runners at the local gym. They don’t seem to notice the rain or the wind. They don’t seem to notice their breath, visible from down the block. And, with their headphones on, they certainly don’t notice the silence. But there is one thing this pair is keenly aware of – the date.
It is April, and in 17 days, Jerdee and Butler will join thousands of people from across the country to run the Boston Marathon. For months, the two have been pushing themselves physically, changing their diets and risking the loss of their social lives. But to them, and to thousands of other runners, it’s worth it.
Motivation, not physical prowess, is what separates the “20 minutes on the treadmill” runner from marathoners, they said. Whether it’s a post-college-life crisis, the dreaded “freshman 15” or the death of a loved one, there’s always a source of inspiration that transforms the Average Joe into John A. Kelley. Runners who have previously crossed the Boylston Street finish line haven’t just been physically fit – they’ve been psychologically prepared.
“It’s about 15 percent physical, 85 percent mental,” said Dr. Grayson Kimball, who teaches sports psychology at Northeastern and is a consultant with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, based in Madison, Wis.
Kimball, a six-time marathon veteran, trains the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s marathon team, which motivates its members by requiring each to run on behalf of an honored hero – a cancer survivor.
“You kind of hear that story of, you know, the 6-year-old girl that’s been dealing with chemo
