Renowned author, and a daughter of a president, and a former presidential hopeful, Chelsea Clinton, is running in it. As is former NHL star Zdeno Chara.
American record holders and 2024 Olympians Conner Mantz and Emily Sisson will be there, while defending champions John Korir and Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, and defending wheelchair champ Marcel Hug of Switzerland are all back to try and reclaim glory.
But there are also plenty of Rockford and Rockford-area runners who will be competing in the Boston Marathon on Monday.
(We will also run a complete list of Rockford-area runners who will be in the Boston Marathon.)
Even some first-time Boston Marathoners.
“I’ve done three, and each time I figured, that was enough, I don’t need to go back,” said Tom Lichty of Monroe Center, who is the president of the Rockford Road Runners running club, and an avid runner himself. “And I’m not going back ― this year. But we have a few who will give it a shot for the first time on Monday. I’m really excited, especially for them.”
Here is more about two of them:
Kaylin Carlson, Loves Park
Carlson lost her mother last May, and then her father passed away last month. She wasn’t sure she would want to continue on and race in her first Boston Marathon on Monday, even though she qualified for it back in 2024.
But she has learned that running is one of those things that can take you away from the stresses of everyday life ― and death.
“Some days, just getting out of bed is a workout right now,” Carlson said. “But running kind of shows me that it’s all about just putting one foot in front of another… For this one, I just want to try and have fun. That’s been hard lately.”
Carlson has run five marathons and several races of other distances. But the Rockford Road Runners club VP has never done a race of this magnitude.
“It’s such a historic race,” she said. “And for me, I’ll have a ring with some of my dad’s ashes in it while I run, and I want to try and enjoy life ― whatever that means for that day.”
Andy Colbert, Oregon
Colbert has run just about any type of race you could imagine, even “several” 100-mile trail races that push a human’s body to its limits.
Now he will give it a go at his first Boston Marathon.
“I didn’t intend to do it,” the 67-year-old Rochelle High School graduate and Oregon resident said. “But here I am…I found myself qualified, and now I’m going to do it.”
Colbert prefers to run off-road races, like the ultramarathons that he has been into the past decade.
In fact, in 2023 Colbert did a 50-miler near Pekin on April 14, slept in his car, then did another 50-miler near the Quad Cities on April 15.
But now, with some extra motivation from his daughter Jorie, who helped him qualify last spring in Salt Lake City, Utah, Colbert will stay on the roads and pavement that wind through the city while he runs in Monday’s Boston Marathon.
“It’s just about the experience for me. It’s all about the experience,” Colbert said. “This is like the Super Bowl of marathons, and I want to experience the course, the atmosphere, the environment. It’s going to be like a party for 26 miles, with 33,000 of your closest friends.”
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Two Rockford-area runners prepare for first Boston Marathon
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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