Westborough Woman is Running in Memory of Her Dad

According to the official Boston Marathon website, 23 people from Westborough have registered to run in the 2011 Boston Marathon. For the days leading up to the marathon, we will feature our Westborough marathoners and encourage you to cheer each of them to the finish line!

Name: Jen Fields

Age: 41

Marathon experience: Jen has been in nine marathons, two 27-milers at timed events and one 50K ultramarathon. She ran her first Boston Marathon last year. “I’m excited. I can’t wait. I’m counting down the days,” she said.

Reason for running: Jen started running in 2001 to keep off weight, but she said it soon became a passion. She ran her first marathon in 2005. “I had two goals for the Boston Marathon: to run as a qualified entrant and to run for Team in Training,” she said. She was excited to add that she met those two goals. She qualified for the Boston Marathon in 2009. This is her second year running as part of Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and she is one of the mentors for the team. Jen said the cause is very important to her because she lost her father to leukemia in 1989. She is hoping to raise $6,000. To date, she is at $5,500.

Training tip: “Don’t underestimate cross training,” Jen said. She said that runners use the same muscles over and over and cross training helps to minimize muscle imbalances. “I learned the hard way how important it is to use other muscles when I ended up in physical therapy at the end of last year,” she said.