Until this past year, long-distance running was not a large part of Lindsay Beauregard’s choice of athletic prowess.
However, after she participated in her first half-marathon in Boston earlier this year, a light bulb shined in the Hampden native’s head.
Why not try the Boston Marathon, and why not support a charity while doing so?
Beauregard will be doing both next spring, making her debut at the world’s marquee 26.2-mile race as part of the Miles for Miracles charity team.
“I always thought it’d be fun to run Boston,” the 2010 graduate of Hampden Academy said Tuesday afternoon. “I figured I might as well continue and apply for the Miles for Miracles team and keep it going.”
Miles for Miracles team members raise funds for Boston Children’s Hospital’s areas of greatest need, including patient care, medical research, community health programs and recruitment and training.
Runners on the charity team must raise a minimum of $5,000 by May 17 — a month after the 2017 Boston Marathon — but Beauregard has set a goal to raise $6,000.
“I’m really doing a big push to raise that money,” she said.
She said she was one of 160 applicants out of 1,000 who will receive a bib number.
“I knew the only way I wanted to do it was for the Miles for Miracles team,” said Beauregard, who lives in Boston and works at the Harvard Business School.
Beauregard’s main motivation for participation in the race is her younger sister, Danielle, who received care at Boston Children’s Hospital for many years after suffering seizures.
“She was born a happy, healthy baby, [and] then the day after her first birthday, she suffered a seizure,” Beauregard said.
She added that her younger sister will “always be non-verbal and always will require special care,” but she is thriving.
Beauregard said her younger sister earned her high school diploma from Hampden in 2015, and she now takes classes at the Boucher Center in Bangor. Beauregard said Danielle is the biggest reason why she is participating in the Boston Marathon.
Beauregard said she and her teammates will kick off a training plan in the coming weeks. She has continued to pound the pavement ever since participating in the Boston Athletic Association Half Marathon last month.
“I can definitely train better than I did for the half,” Beauregard said.
Runners who participate in the marathon on charity teams do not have to post qualifying times to receive a bib.
“I always kept in the back of my mind I could apply that way,” Beauregard said, noting that she was familiar with the Miles for Miracles team after a previous job in the Tufts Medical Center’s development office.
While the Boston Marathon presents the ultimate 26.2-mile challenge for any runner, it’s one that Beauregard, who played field hockey at Hampden, is excited to take on.
“It’s so exciting, having all of Boston together, people come from all over to watch it,” she said. “It’s such a great way to bring a city together.”
Those wishing to support Beauregard can log onto www.milesformiracles.org/boston and search for her name.
Follow Ryan McLaughlin on Twitter at @rmlcaughlin23.
