For longtime Tucsonan Michelle Nolen, running is more than just exercise. It is her passion.
It’s also a way for her to bond with her son, Luke. In April, Nolen accomplished one of her “bucket list” items when she ran the Boston Marathon.
Nolen ran when she was younger and revived it after she gave birth to Luke. When she started running seriously, Nolen didn’t plan on participating in the Boston Marathon.
“My son has special needs, but he always loved being pushed in the strollers on our walks and runs,” Nolen said.
“So, as he got older and bigger, and outgrew the standard-bought jogging stroller, I needed to find a way to keep that going.”
Nolen was then introduced to Team Hoyt Arizona. The organization was founded after Rick Hoyt, who uses a wheelchair, asked his father, Dick, to push him in a race. Nolen said Team Hoyt helped her find the equipment she needed to run with her son.
Her goal was to run with Luke in the Boston Marathon. At the time, she had seven years to train. Participants in the Boston Marathon, like Luke, must be age 18.
To prepare for her first Boston Marathon, Nolen increasingly ran farther. She went from 5Ks to 10Ks to half marathons until she was ready to run in Boston.
Nolen raised over $11,000 for the parent organization, The Hoyt Foundation, so she could register to run in the Boston Marathon. She was overwhelmed but excited. She was only the second member of Team Hoyt to run the Boston Marathon.
It did not disappoint.
“So, my big fear about the Boston Marathon wasn’t the distance,” said Nolen, whose father, Truly David Nolen, founded the pest control service of the same name.
“It wasn’t the weather that can be so unpredictable. I was really worried. It’s such a hyped experience. People build it up to be the end-all-be-all. You only live once. Usually that’s a concern for me. I was like, ‘Oh, everything gets hyped up and it’s never going to live up to that experience.’ And it was so much better than anything I expected.”
Nolen said the energy in Boston was palpable during the marathon. The city embraced the runners.
“Everything about it was so amazing,” she said.
“The hospitality, the other runners there, it’s a special community for sure. The course genuinely had people before the start … there’s people cheering you on and so excited, and little kids with posters and dogs and all the way to the finish line and beyond even with the rain.”
The atmosphere stuck with Nolen, who eschewed taking photos or listening to music during the Boston Marathon.
Nolen finished the Boston Marathon in four hours and 41 minutes, according to her watch. That was her personal best — and proud of it.
“I mean, Boston brought out the best in me, and I didn’t expect to run it that well and be able to enjoy,” Nolen said. “It’s like, ‘OK, you either run hard or you can kind of smile and take it all in,’ and it brought out the best. I got the best of both worlds.”
Nolen would like to continue running marathons. She said she wants to run in the Boston Marathon if she can’t run in the London Marathon. She’d like to travel to England to run it with Luke.
“Oh, I’ve had the Kool-Aid. I’ve drunk the Boston Kool-Aid,” Nolen said. “And I want to go pretty much any year that I can. So now it’s like, ‘OK, we want to be in that club,’ like every year.”
