On Monday, April 18, 2016, Meredith Wells will run the 120th Boston Marathon in memory of John Mastronardi. Meri is a good friend of John’s son, Michael Mastronardi, as the two attended Northeastern University together.
Meri, who currently resides in Malden, grew up in Woburn, graduating from Woburn High School in 2007 and Northeastern in 2012. She now works in the Talent Acquisition Department as a recruiter for PAREXEL, a clinical research organization.
Meri’s love for running began on Cape Cod, where she spent the summers with her family. “I grew up watching my mother and aunt run the Falmouth Road Race, so it was always a goal of mine to run it one day. About 8 years ago, I ran the Falmouth Road Race for the first time and have done it every year since!”
After mastering the seven-mile Falmouth course, it was only a matter of time before Meri got the urge to push herself to run further. In 2012, following her college graduation, Meri got serious about running and signed up for her first half marathon, the Boston Athletic Association Half. Since 2012, she has gone on to run six half marathons and then doubled up to conquer the New York City Marathon in 2014, her first 26-mile trek.
The Patriot’s Day race will mark Meri’s first time running Boston and she is very excited for the opportunity. “After completing the NYC marathon, there was a huge part of me that couldn’t help but think about how much more it would mean to finish 26.2 in my favorite city. The Boston Marathon has always been a dream of mine ever since I watched my Aunt Mary run it when I was a little girl.”
In addition to extending her own family tradition in running Boston, Meri is also excited and honored to run Boston in memory of her good friend’s father, with all of the fundraising efforts from her run going toward the 2016 John Mastronardi Memorial Scholarships “It gives me pride to run for a great cause and to support the scholarship for someone who is pursuing a degree in education.”
With a mild winter thus far, Meri has been doing most of her marathon training on her own, but also running with the Shamrock Running Club at least once a week. Preparing herself for the often heart-breaking hills of Newton, Meri has added some cross training into her workouts and has been doing many of her training runs on hills … “trying to prepare for the worst,” she commented.
In terms of a goal for April 18th, “I would love to finish Boston in under 4:30,” she said. “That was my goal for New York, but the weather made that difficult with 30mph winds. Regardless of the time, I just want to finish strong and be able to enjoy every minute!”
“I cannot wait to experience this day of running the prestigious Boston marathon route and seeing many friends and family along the way.”
The Mastronardi Family wishes Meri lots of luck and strong winds from the west on Marathon Monday!