BOSTON – Former Troubadour Maggie Lloyd will run the Boston Marathon Monday fulfilling a life-long dream but with a bigger inspiration.

“One of my earliest running goals was to run the Boston marathon, and I still can’t believe that I am on my way to living that dream, but this race isn’t about checking something off my bucket list,” said Lloyd on her MIT Strong page.

Lloyd, who is a ‘08 graduate of St. Francis, was a volunteer at the marathon for each of her four years attending MIT.

“I vividly remember the first time I volunteered for the Boston marathon my freshman year,” recalled Lloyd. “My general impression as I walked around the marathon expo with all its booths and aisles and free samples was “this is NUTS!” 

Lloyd has been running since middle school. She was a two-time state championship and Nike Team Nationals open race qualifier while running for St. Francis. She received the Delta River League sportsmanship award and the St. Francis Booster Club scholarship en route to attending MIT, where she was a four-year member of the cross country and track and field teams.

She earned NCAA Division III All-Region honors in the 4×800-meter relay and was a NEWMAC Academic All-Conference selection while recording some of the best times in MIT school history in the 400 intermediate hurdles and as part of the 4×800 relay team.

After the tragedy last year at the race, she knew that running the Boston Marathon in 2014 was her goal.

“It’s been one of my oldest dreams to run the marathon someday, and after last year’s tragedy (including the night that MIT police officer Sean Collier was shot on campus by the alleged bombers) I knew I wanted to run in 2014,” said Lloyd. “Problem was, I never ran a marathon in my life and I had less than five months to qualify (3:35 for my age group)!”

She qualified for the race with a 3:29 finish at the Lehigh Valley Marathon in Allentown, Pa., completing her transition from race volunteer to participant.

“I cannot express how utterly excited I am for this race,” said Lloyd, who graduated with a degree in chemical biological engineering and works in Washington, D.C. “Sometimes, when I’m having a bad day, I just think “but I get to run the Boston marathon in April!” and that instantly lifts my mood.”

She is raising funds for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (one of Officer Collier’s favorite philanthropic organizations) and the MIT Collier Memorial Fund.

“I joined the MIT Strong team because Officer Collier has deeply inspired me to live a life of courage and friendship,” said Lloyd. “I don’t have a lot of talents, but I hope my running can honor his legacy within the MIT community.”

According to the MIT school webpage, the team, which formed in January, began with 25 runners committed to raising $4,000 or more. Since then, it has grown to include runners with existing entries who will raise at least $1,000 toward the team’s goals: to honor Officer Collier, celebrate the spirit of the MIT community’s response to the crisis, stand in solidarity with the city of Boston, and support the Collier Fund at MIT. To date, they have raised over $138,000.

More info about those projects can be found at:

http://rundanafarber.org/2014/brassratrunner and http://mitstrong.mit.edu/team/lloyd