Local runners rise to the challenge of racing in the Boston Marathon

Each year, runners across the Granite State participate in the Boston Marathon. This year, 49 New Hampshire residents are gearing up to race on Monday.

The marathon takes place each spring in April. This is the race’s 129th year, making it the oldest annual marathon in the world. The 26-mile, 385-yard course begins in Hopkinton and ends on Boylston Street in Back Bay, traversing some of Boston’s most iconic monuments and streets.

With a few dozen locals signed up to run the marathon this year, the Monitor asked them about their motivation for running and how they got into one of the most premier races in the country.

Margarita Matos, 37, Concord

For Matos, this year is all about personal redemption. Last year, the mother of two struggled to train consistently and said she was not in the right head space to give it her all.

“When I found out that I was going to go in, I took that as, I got a second chance. I definitely want to wear my stripes and do way better than what I did last year and feel good about it,” she said.

Matos grew up in Manchester and first got into running in 2018, when her friends suggested it as a healthy hobby to pursue. Thanks to her active lifestyle, she ramped up from a 5k to a full marathon within her first year of running. The upcoming race will be her third Boston Marathon and ninth marathon overall.

Matos belongs to the Bedford-based Millennium Running Club. She’ll be running alongside many of her club friends throughout the marathon, which she aims to finish in under four hours. Her children and her boyfriend will also be there to cheer her on.

“The spectators there are just great, and obviously when you’re cutting left into Boylston Street, it’s just an incredible, amazing feeling,” she said. “I feel like anyone who is a runner should be able to experience it at least once because it’s literally amazing.”

Keith Lundquist, 38, Hopkinton

Lundquist, a native of Burlington, Mass., first ran the Boston Marathon in 2013. He finished the race before two bombs detonated at the finish line. He did not learn about the terrorist attacks until he arrived at his brother-in-law’s home after the race.

He said that what happened that day, the devastation and his own survival, compelled him to return the next year to race again. He still remembers the following marathon fondly — everyone was dressed in red, white and blue, and an immense crowd cheered on racers.

The 2025 marathon will be his sixth, and he’s aiming to improve his time by leaps and bounds. Cheered on by his wife and two young daughters, who will be waiting for him toward the end of the route, Lundquist has his sights set on a two-hour and 33-minute finish. He’s put in a lot of preparation, but as always, his goal is to just finish.

“I have, over the years, been able to shave off a lot of time from my first marathon ever,” he said. “Last year, I was able to shave off about half an hour. So for people, either on the cusp of qualifying or thinking about even just running their first marathon, it’s definitely a long-term goal. It’s a marathon for a reason, it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight.”

Ellen Raffio, 57, Bow

Raffio started running as a teenager on Hopkinton High School’s cross country team and has run consistently throughout her life. This will be her third Boston Marathon and her 28th marathon overall.

This year’s race will be particularly special for her. Raffio’s good friend from Hopkinton, Judy George, passed away from cancer recently, inspiring her to run for Team Honda and raise funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where George received treatment.

Raffio and her husband, Tom, chief executive officer of Northeast Delta Dental, have worked to provide sponsorships for races and multiple wellness initiatives across New Hampshire, but this will be the first time she’s raising money as an individual racer.

She said she has loved running her whole life and describes it as therapeutic and as the source of all her ideas. She thinks running is one of the best things anyone can do for their mind and body, and she hopes to keep growing the sport.

“I’d say, sign up for a running group or start a local 5K because we have so many local 5Ks,” Raffio said. “Meet some of the people and the running crowd, they’re like the friendliest crowd you’ll ever meet if you need a friend. Just go to a running group.”

Colton Ham, 31, Loudon

Ham started running under cross country coach Dave Irving at Merrimack Valley High School, and since then, like Raffio, he has not stopped. He became a D-II state champion at MV and went on to run at Franklin Pierce University, where he was mentored by head coach Zach Emerson.

He said both Irving and Emerson inspired him throughout the years to continue pushing himself to new heights. Recently, Ham has worked closely with Emerson on the board of directors for the Hopkinton Runners Society. This will be his first Boston Marathon, but to qualify for Boston, he recently competed in the Montreal Marathon.

“There’s a lot of motivational factors. Just the Boston Marathon itself is such a hard race to get into, and in my mind, it’s one of the biggest and best ones you can run,” he said. “That was in my mind before I ran to qualify in Canada, and that just kept me pushing all winter.”

Ham will be wearing his lucky purple socks while his wife, daughter, parents and friends cheer him on throughout the course. He’s going for a two-hour and 40-minute finish and has been watching videos online from experts to learn the intricacies of the course.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com