The annual race, which attracts 500,000 spectators each year is usually held on the third Monday in April, but was postponed to September this year due to social distancing measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the pandemic wasn’t going to stop Hendrik, who ran the Waterloo Marathon in 2019 with a time of three hours and two minutes in order to qualify for the Boston race, from running that day. He mapped out the 42 km distance around Kitchener-Waterloo, arranging to pass as many of his CORE colleagues’ homes as possible (which ended up pushing his total distance closer to 46 km).
“I knew when they announced that the Boston Marathon was postponed to the fall that I still wanted to complete the marathon on the same day. I trained for the event and wanted to put that training to use.” says Hendrik.
On the morning of his run, he sent a link to his family and friends to track his progress live. Those in the area could estimate when he would pass by their homes and were able to wave and cheer him on – from a safe physical distance, of course – while others outside of K-W could root for him from afar.
His colleagues even set up a finish line and crafted medals for him to wear.
“Seeing so many of the CORE family at the finish line was an incredible surprise!” says Hendrik.
The [homemade] medals were fantastic and, although my legs were tired, it boosted my spirit on what could have been a disappointing day. Running can be a solo sport, but it certainly didn’t feel that way with the incredible support. The Boston Cream Cake afterwards also helped.”
Hendrik still plans to run the Boston Marathon if it takes place as planned in September and continues to train.