Love fuels marathoners forward

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Steve Lebel (left) of Milford and James Justin Edwards, a Merrimack resident, are training to run in the 114th Boston Marathon on April 19.

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Boston Marathon entries Steve Lebel (left) and James Justin Edwards are local runners training to run in the 114th Boston Marathon on April 19. Their race sponsorship dollars will assist cancer research.

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Boston Marathon entries Steve Lebel (left) and James Justin Edwards are local runners training to run in the 114th Boston Marathon on April 19. Their race sponsorship dollars will assist cancer research.

Enlarge

Steve Lebel (left) of Milford and James Justin Edwards, a Merrimack resident, are training to run in the 114th Boston Marathon on April 19.

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They know the road ahead is a long one.

Local experienced runners Steve Lebel, of Milford and, James Justin Edwards, of Merrimack, are training hard for a distant goal, the finish line of the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon. The 114th running is scheduled for April 19.

Lebel and Edwards were extended invites by the Boston Athletic Association, the sponsor of the marathon. The two are members of a BAA-recognized charitable organization, the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team. As such, the BAA foregoes requiring a qualifying time from them for entry to the race. Some 500 runners on the DFMC team raise hefty sponsorship dollars for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Lebel and Edwards, whose sponsorships total several thousand dollars, will run the Boston Marathon in honor of loved ones who overcame cancer at Dana-Farber.

Lebel runs for his cousin, Pam. Several years ago, she was bald and ill and hospitalized. She now has two healthy children with the man who proposed to her while she was sick.

Edwards is running for Paul, his future father-in-law, who also was treated at Dana-Farber. He said it was a “big scary deal” when Paul was diagnosed. Chemotherapy followed, as did remission. Today, Paul is fine.

Edwards said, “Paul is a big, strong guy. He’s a Marine Corps veteran. When he went through all that, it made me want to do something, too – something bigger than myself.”

Both men know the ups and downs of the marathon route.

They know there is a biker bar where they are given thumbs-up by rows of people on motorcycles. Miles later, they’ll pass kids offering bananas and dunces proffering beers before pacing toward what runners call “the screaming tunnel,” a channel of road lined by hundreds of spring-loaded, cheering college girls from Wellesley.

Then on to Heartbreak Hill, where they will deal with three blended elevations, each plenty high.

In places, Edwards swears the noise from the throngs of spectators is visible.

Lebel and Edwards plan not only to persevere but to do better than ever.

Lebel, 28, teaches third grade at Grinnell Elementary in Derry. The upcoming marathon will be his seventh. Three in Boston, one in Chicago, a Marine Corps marathon and one at Disney World in Florida are missions accomplished.

Lebel jotted a note in his training journal after a practice run of 20 miles and said, “Not finishing the marathon is not an option. My best time ever is 4:16, and I plan to do better. After all, I’ll have 19 third graders waiting to hear how I did.”

Edwards, 30, is a machinist at C&M Machine Products Inc., in Hudson. He’s been skateboarding since age 6 and spends winters snowboarding. He has two marathons to his credit.

In October, he endured a rainy nor’easter with temps in the 30s at the Bay State Marathon in Lowell, Mass. Previously, he ran the Boston Marathon in 2008 and finished in 4:42.

Upon crashing past the finish line at the Boston race, he dropped to one knee and asked his longtime girlfriend, Tina Villemaire, to marry him. She said, “yes,” and accepted a diamond ring. The pair was cushioned by family, friends and applause. Today, the engagement is a solid one. He calls her “his best friend.”

Edwards said of that day, “I had to keep running. My chick was at the finish line, along with everyone waiting to see me propose. I always run like a wild-man. And I train in all weather. So, I’ll be ready for Boston.”

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, founded in 1947, boasts a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.org, an online charity evaluator founded in 2001. According to the researchers there, a full 87.5 percent of the independent hospital’s budget goes to programs. The Institute, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, also is the home of the Jimmy Fund, established in 1948 to further support the fight against cancer in children and adults.

The DFMC team was formed in 1990. Thus far, it has raised $43 million for the Barr Program, which was launched in 1987 by Dana-Farber trustees and J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver, principal owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars pro football team. Weaver’s mother, Claudia Adams Barr, had succumbed to cancer. The program honors her memory.

Lebel and Edwards invite others to get involved. There is a need for volunteers and for additional donations. To support a DFMC runner in the upcoming Boston Marathon or for volunteer information, visit www.RunDFMC.org or contact the DFMC offices at 1-617-632-1970.