A Family Effort: Training for a First Boston Marathon Together

Moving up from 3.1 miles to 26.2 miles would seem like a daunting task. But it's easier when you have a partner, as David Morganelli and Whitney Mullen have learned this year.

Morganelli, 44, and his neice, Mullen, 22, of Hopkinton, have been running together on weekends as they prepare for their first Boston Marathon. Both Morganelli and Mullen are raising funds for the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, and running in memory of family members.

Morganelli is dedicating his race to his late father, Peter J. Morganelli, a  pediatrician and lifelong Milford resident. Mullen is running in memory of both of her late grandfathers — Peter J. Morganelli and John Mullen, Sr. — as well as a childhood friend who died while in college.

The charitable foundation, established by Robert Kraft when he purchased the New England Patriots, provides funds for youth and family programs that foster cultural diversity, education, family and health, according to its website. Morganelli and Mullen both set an aggressive fundraising goal of $10,000, and each are about halfway to date.

They train individually during the week, either by getting up early before work, or running near their workplaces. Mullen works at EMC. Morganelli, of Milford, is an attorney. On weekends, they run the long run together.

This past weekend, they headed to Wellesley to run a portion of the Boston route, and the first time over Heartbreak Hill. Both say the opportunity to run the Boston Marathon is a challenge, but also exciting.

"I've always wanted to run it," said Mullen, who grew up in Hopkinton, and watched the race start many times.

They started training in December, and have steadily increased the weekly mileage. Before training for Boston, Morganelli had only run 5Ks, a distance of 3.1 miles. But the training has gone well for both, helped by having a partner to get them through the long runs, which can exceed four hours.

"We thought it was doable," Morganelli said, "As long as we stuck to the schedule."

The most challenging part of the training has been the time commitment to running, both agreed. For Mullen, it's meant getting up at 5 a.m. to get the weekday runs in before work. Morganelli said he sometimes skips a morning run, only to make it up at night.

"It's a huge time commitment," Mullen said.

Mullen, who has run a 10K prior to training for the marathon, hopes to finish the race in 4.5 hours. Morganelli said he's hoping to run it at a 10 minute-mile pace.

They've both been surprised at how stress- and injury-free the training has been, to date, particularly once they pushed through the 12-mile point. "The most surprising thing, when I'm running, is how the time passes," Mullen said.

Having someone to talk to, to get you through the tough parts, helps too.