Ila Bumagin, Junior
ASSISTANT EDITOR
A good cause can carry people a long way – 26 miles even. Ben Garry ran the Boston Marathon this year to fundraise for Boston Children’s Hospital, and it was a success. Mr. Garry is a Special Education teacher at Marblehead High School, where he has taught for 17 years.
After he ran the marathon, I was interested to see what inspired him to train and run this year. Mr. Garry has always liked to run as a hobby, and he is part of a run club in town that meets every Wednesday. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he ran a couple of half marathons (13.1 miles). The community in the running club is wonderful, and Mr. Garry became close friends with a man named Scott.
Scott’s son, Will, had passed away as a baby. In 2018, Scott ran to fundraise for Boston Children’s Hospital. This year, Scott organized Team Will, in honor of his son, to run for the same cause. Just Scott and Mr. Garry alone raised over $30,000 for the program. Not only did Team Will raise over $2.7 million as a whole, but they also dedicated their time to a 20 week training plan in order to get ready for the marathon. They ran three times a week – two short runs and one long run. Back in November, the long runs were 4-5 miles. The run before the marathon was 21 miles.
Mr. Garry said that running the marathon was incredibly rewarding, even if he couldn’t walk for three days after it. The cause and Team Will’s $2.7 million accomplishment made it all worth it. This year especially, Mr. Garry said, was a good year to run. It was the 10th anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing, and the crowd was very enthusiastic, and it added meaning to the race. Mr. Garry says he would encourage anyone thinking about running the marathon to do it. He says, “I couldn’t imagine ever doing this before, but I’m glad I did. It was an amazing, amazing experience.”