By David Fleet
Editor
Trina Jolley is Boston bound.
“The Boston Marathon was on my ‘Bucket List,’” said Jolley, 49, a Goodrich resident and 1986 Brandon High School graduate. “I’m excited to be there—it’s a lot of emotion and I plan on just soaking it all in.”
Jolley will join about 10,000 runners in the 122nd Boston Marathon on April 16. The world’s oldest annual marathon attracts some of the top runners in the world on the 26 mile, 385 yard roadway through historic Boston area neighborhoods.
Jolley’s trek to Boston began later in her running career.
“I was not a runner in high school,” she said. “It was not until the birth of my first child, Alex in 1995 that I really started running,” she laughed. “I was going to the gym to work out as much as possible, but with a small child that was very difficult at times. So, I purchased a jogging stroller so I could take Alex with me and I took off.”
In 2000, Jolley ran the Hadley Harvest 10K race her first..
“I just fell in love with running,” she said. “You either love running or you hate it—many try and just fail. I’m an outdoor runner, no treadmills for me. No cell phone, or iPod or music when I run. I can really disconnect with the world.”
Jolley’s first big race was the 2006 Detroit Free Press Marathon.
“It went really well,” she said. “I ran nine other (marathons) after that and it got better each year.”
In 2013 Jolley qualified for the Boston Marathon in the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon with a finish time of 3:53:23. A time 3:55 was required for her age group to enter the Boston Marathon. However, she registered for the 2014 Boston in September 2013, but was denied by officials by 1 second.
“The Boston Athletic Association cut off the qualifying times in my age group at 3:53:22 due to field size limitations,” she said. “There was an even higher demand of qualified runners in that year’s race due to it being the year after the Boston bombings so every age group of qualifiers had to be cut off at 1:37.”
Jolley finally qualified for Boston on Oct. 1 2016 with a time of 3:41:45 at St George Marathon, in Utah.
“I needed a time of 3:55,” she said. “I knew I was in the race but I had to wait until I received an official letter from Boston.”
Jolley does not run every day, however, practices about 40-42 miles per week.
“This winter has been brutal,” she admits. “Rain, snow, sleet—it’s been tough. I work about 10 hours a day during the week so I give my self a break and rest with a few days off.”
Check out thecitizenonline for updates on Jolley’s Boston Marathon.