Boston Marathon 2013 Profile: Nicole Bedard

Are you running in the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15? Fill out this form to submit your profile to Tewksbury Patch—make sure to email us a photo at williamg@patch.com—and we'll print your profile this days leading up to the 2013 Boston Marathon.

Name: Nicole Bedard

Age: 30

Marathon Experience: I have run 7 Boston Marathons before. I am so excited to run it again! I run for Miles for Miracles as a part of the Children's Hospital Team. I wrote a story for them that I am going to include below. I am running for Everett Chase, an 8 year old boy from Tewksbury. His mom, Michele Chase asked if I would share my story with your newspaper, in hopes that we can raise even more money for Children's Hospital.

Reason For Running: http://www.milesformiracles.org/boston/TeamEverett-Nicole

My Marathon Journey: What led me from a runner to a Children’s Hospital Runner?
Every year, I am asked by my friends and family exactly WHY I run the marathon. There are so many reasons I run. This year, 2013, marks my 7th Official entry into the Marathon-and my 8th overall (yes, I was a jumper that first fateful year!). I would like to tell you a little bit about “the marathon girl”, as I am known by many people, and what led me on my journey of becoming a marathon runner for Children's Hospital Boston.
When I was a little kid, I would watch the marathon on TV every Patriots day. I can remember being 14 years old and saying to myself- “I’m going to run the marathon someday, and I’m going to be the youngest person to do it” Now, let me give you a little background information on little 14-year-old Nicole. She was LAZY. She didn’t RUN! Couldn’t be bothered to exercise! I don’t know what made me think that somehow I was going to RUN the Boston Marathon (of ALL races!).
Sometime around my 19th birthday, I started to run. Not a lot-Just a few miles around my neighborhood-And I found I REALLY liked it. It was a stress reliever! And, I was kind of good at it(I had never been athletic at anything, ever). I started to do it more. My 14 year old dream long forgotten, I decided to run the marathon at age 20. I got a ride to Hopkinton, borrowed a number, and jumped on in the starting line.
These are some things I did NOT know about running a marathon: you can’t just DO IT, you have to TRAIN for it. HARD. Harder than ANYTHING I had ever done. You have to run a lot more than 10 miles in a row. You might have already guessed this…but I did not finish that first year. I ended up hopping on the first T ride I saw! I was bummed, but vowed to run it again someday, and to finish it.
I got my first Official entry number at age 22. I knew I could do it! The first half was great! I was flying through it! By mile 16, I felt ill. Nauseous/cold sweats/dizzy-I didn’t think I was going to make it another 10 miles. My best friend and a few others were waiting for me at the last half mile before the finish line. When she found out I was running it, Joelynn immediately pledged her full support and said she would go to see me finish. I know for an absolute FACT that I would not have finished if I didn’t know she was waiting there for me. I knew she would be worried that it was taking me so long to run it, so I tried to walk as fast as a violently ill person can walk. By the time I got to her, I was a wreck. It had been over six hours since I had started; I was physically beat, mentally shattered. In tears, I told her I couldn’t finish the marathon, that I didn’t WANT to. She gave me an “Are you Crazy?!” look and grabbed my left arm, had our other friend grab my right-and together, they were my legs to the finish line. The feeling of finishing was exhilarating. Better than any other runners high I could imagine. I vowed to someday do the marathon again.
We all know the Boston Marathon has some of the tightest qualifying standards. For someone like me, who has struggled to make the grade of the tight times for Boston, running for Children’s Hospital has been a blessing: I am able to run the marathon every year without needing a qualifying time. I started running for the Kids at Heart team, a subset of the Children’s Hospital 'Miles for Miracles' team, during the 2007- 2008 marathon season. I was paired with my first patient partner, Maggie King, and her family. Maggie has been a patient at Children's Hospital since she was 4 hours old. The Children's transport team came to the local hospital and transported her to Children's where she was admitted to the NICU. Without Children's, Maggie would not have survived nor would she be able to do all that she can do today-She is a cognitively age appropriate young woman. With Children's help, Maggie learned to drive a power wheel chair at the age of 3. She uses a computer, Maggie’s Merk, named by her little brother DJ, to communicate by activating a switch with her head. This amazing computer actually speaks for Maggie as she clicks and selects communication folders on the screen attached to her wheelchair. Maggie’s family members are huge advocates for her and therefore, Maggie's quality of life has always been on the upswing.
I remember how nervous I was to meet them. What if they didn’t like me? What was Maggie like? All of my nervousness was put immediately at ease. The King family accepted me into their lives as if I was a part of their extended family. For the next two years, I learned so many things about my patient partner and her family. Maggie is so much more than just a 20 year old girl in a wheelchair. She is so smart. I loved going to see the King family. Dana, Maggie’s mom once told me that she was so happy I was Maggie’s last runner because “ Nicole gets it”.
To fully understand what the sentence “Nicole gets it” means, you have to understand that running a marathon for Children’s means so much more than to run without a cause. It means that your strong legs are running because weak legs can’t. It means you train whenever you can-even if it is cold, windy, or even when it’s snowing. It doesn’t matter if you had a bad day and don't feel like running today, or if you have a little cold. Even if it blizzards outside on the day you are supposed to do your long run (HELLO, Winter 2013?!?) and instead you wind up doing that 18 miler on a treadmill-you do it. You know why you do it? It's because You KNOW that you’re doing it for a cause that is bigger than you. Up before the sun, tired and half asleep, we drag ourselves out to the road because we KNOW the cause we run for: Children. It involves tons of your time and energy. I am so lucky: My loved ones are always so understanding about why I can’t go places with them during the marathon training season weekends: They know my long runs are crucial to my overall goals.
The 2008-2009 Marathon season was the final one for the King family. After many years, they were ready for new challenges that life was giving them: Two teenage girls, and a son entering junior high! During the 2009-2010 marathon training season, I got a new patient partner: Everett Chase. When I first met Everett, he was just a 5 year old little peanut who I could easily pick up! Now he is a handsome 8 year old who is ALWAYS smiling. You can’t look at him and not immediately burst into a big ear to ear Grin! He also has Cerebral Palsy. The exact cause for Everett’s condition cannot be diagnosed by doctors, as it is a particular set of issues that has never been seen. He doesn’t quite fit any known syndrome or disease. Trips to Children’s Hospital in Boston are commonplace for Everett’s care. Everett attends school at The Professional Center in Andover, MA. He is doing very well, and loves going to school. The staff thinks the world of him, and Everett's family, in turn thinks the world of them.
If you think this limits Everett-think again. Everett is constantly busy…he ice skates, goes for bike rides, plays outside, goofs around with his sisters, and loves to go camping. Anyone who knows him can tell you that his parents, sisters, and family truly feel blessed to have him. I have loved getting to know the Chase family: Everett’s parents, Michele and Peter, and his two sisters Heather and Meredith always make me feel welcome in their home. I really couldn’t ask for a better family! We love getting together and always have a bunch of laughs. The girls always have funny stories to tell me and Cookie Mom Michele always forces (yeah right!!) me to take Girl Scout Cookies home with me!
Everett and Maggie have taught me so many lessons. They taught me that “Handicap” is just an expression-it does not mean you are limited to what you can do. You are the one who controls the way you perceive the world-Everett and Maggie both see the world as a wonderful, limitless place. To have this vision is a true gift. You know that the people who surround you are there because they cherish and respect you. They both have taught me that you can literally do anything you put your mind to-no matter how big of an obstacle it is; you can do anything you want if you have the mindset to do it. Most of all, I have learned that even though I may be the “legs” of this crazy journey-they are the motivation. There is no more powerful gift than that: two beautiful souls that have encouraged me at different times towards my journey of the runner I am today. Neither of them would ever conceive the idea of giving up on their journey, and neither will I.
Thanks to Children’s Hospital, Everett and Maggie are just two of the kids who have benefited from all their wonderful help. This year marks my 6th year as a runner in the Miles for Miracles Team. I have chosen to run for Children's because I know I can do more, help more, provide more. My patient partners and my fellow teammates work together every year to create a better life for kids everywhere. Every year, one of my friends or family members tells me that I'm their hero for running the marathon. But I don't see it that way. I see a hero as being the little kids who are fighting cancer. Heroes are the kids who are born with heart conditions and balance their lives between hospital stays, and nights out with their friends. Heroes are the kids who find other ways to communicate than with their own speech. I am not a hero: I'm just a runner. My heroes are Everett Chase and Maggie King. The "stride" beneath my run.
Flashing back to my 14 year old self: I never thought I really would become a passionate-die-hard-i-don't-care-how-cold-or-hot-it-is runner. If you had told me that someday I would feel running was essential to my well-being: I would have called you crazy. I certainly never thought my life would have taken this direction. Each marathon I’ve run has been its own individual experience; the only thing they have in common is that I am running through each one to reach a goal. When you cross that finish line- a tumble of emotions spill forth. I have felt happiness, relief, and exhaustion .I have cried buckets, collapsed in my husband’s arms, and been carried there by a friend. Every experience I’ve had fuels something deep inside me, a stirring to do more, be better and push harder: to never give up no matter how difficult it is.
The 117th running of the Boston Marathon will be my 13th Marathon. Over the years, I have intensified my training. I run about 60 miles a week and do a long run every single week. I started out running a 6 ½ hour marathon, and this October I did a 3:54 Baystate Marathon. I am disciplined, and determined to make my goal time of 3:40 this year. It has taken me a long time to be able to achieve this, but I believe I’m finally at that point. Everett and Maggie have helped me do that. Not a mile passes that I don’t think about what I’m doing, and who I’m doing it for. I have given both Everett and Maggie a “ride” to the finish line, but the both of them have given me so much more than I can every repay them for.

Training Tip: Never give up on your training. Work hard and push yourself. Set a goal and push yourself to acheive it. There is nothing like the feeling of when you shatter your previous PR for a long run, or run up that hill faster than you did yesterday, As long as you have the mindset of "I can do Anything I want to" then you will be able to overcome the challenges the marathon presents to you.