In the 2016 Boston Marathon, Kerri Floramo decided that she would run in an effort to raise money for ALS research. She raised $7,000 with the help of her friends and coworkers. She is running the Marathon again this year, hoping to raise more money for the research, and will be running for the UMass Medical School Cellucci ALS Memorial Fund, whom she ran for last year.
When asked about running the Marathon last year, Floramo had only good things to say. She stated that at Hopkinton, the starting point, “there is an electricity in the air, with all these strangers from all over the country and the world, with one common goal—to run the Boston Marathon.” 2016 was her first time running the Marathon, although she had been preparing by running half-marathons for five years before, and began training for the Boston Marathon after the bombings that took place in 2013. She said she felt fine up until around the halfway point when her feet began aching and her calves began cramping, however, she said “it is possible to just block it out because at a certain point the discomfort doesn’t get any worse; it just persists.” After a short pit stop at the EMTs for a tablet to help with the cramping and some water, Floramo kept running. She told me that “there’s three things you can’t beat: an endurance runner, a strong woman, and a Bostonian, which [She is] all three of those things!”
Floramo decided to run for ALS, a neurodegenerative disease that weakens muscles and makes moving incredibly hard. When interviewed last year, she stated that she dedicated her run to ALS because of one of her son’s classmates who had ALS at St. John’s Prep School, Pete Frates. She knew she wanted to help raise as much money as possible to help enable more research towards ALS. She believes that “running 26.2 miles for those who can’t is [her] privilege and [her] honor.”
Like last year, she is fundraising again, and is hoping to raise more than last year. In order to donate to Floramo’s cause and to help UMass continuously study ALS, visit: https://www.crowdrise.com/UMassMemorialBoston2017/fundraiser/kerrifloramo
Wow, proud of you, Alysha! Love you. Keep up the good work!