COM sophomores run first Boston Marathon

Rachel McLean ('18), who first entertained the thought of running her first 26.2-mile race as a junior in high school, has truly found a new calling. The journalism and mass communication double major recently completed the 39th Annual Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women and a half marathon in Newton, and she has been enrolled in the marathon class at BU’s Fitness and Recreation Center since the spring 2015 semester. She has also blogged her training efforts since January, and the Boston Marathon itself was a big part of her childhood.

McLean, a Hopkinton native, said she would go with friends and family to the same area in Hopkinton each year and high-five waves of runners as they strode past. Her mom even remembers when her toddler-aged daughter was in a stroller one year at the marathon and was interviewed by a reporter. McLean joked that she’d join the men and women she was cheering on one day, not aware that she was foreshadowing at the time.

“It’s so exciting to be contributing to my town and to be doing this event I’ve been watching since I’ve been really young,” McLean said. “I’ve been to almost every single marathon start, and now I actually [participated].”

Another COM sophomore, Emma Everett, also competed in the race for the first time, running on behalf of Goodwill's team, Running for Great Kids.