Global Courant 2023-04-17 21:44:04
For runners, the Boston Marathon’s “left at Boylston” marks an emotional moment, the pinnacle of the sport’s pinnacle event. This year, one local father-daughter duo will mark the memory together.
Charleston resident Robert Morgenstern and his daughter Jessie Hogue-Morgenstern are among approximately 30,000 participants in this year’s 127th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 17.
“I get a little emotional thinking about it because it’s something I’ve wanted to do for so long,” said Hogue-Morgenstern, “and I get to do it with my dad. I’m really, really excited to lead it with him .”
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After running many marathons together, including the New York City and Chicago World Championships, both runners achieved their Boston Qualifying Time (BQ) at the Philadelphia Marathon on November 21, 2021.
For the 63-year-old Morgenstern, it was his third time earning a BQ, and he said he enjoyed watching his daughter, a 2006 graduate of George Washington High School, earn her first.
“I’m just so excited for her,” he said. “It’s neat to have your kid, in this case my daughter, work on something and achieve her goal. Kudos to her for sticking with it and doing the workout, not just the running, but the strength training that is required to hit that qualifying pace.”
Hogue-Morgenstern, a 34-year-old Washington resident, ran a 3:23:30 clock in Philadelphia and finished safely before her 3:30:00 requirement for Boston.
Runners make their way to the finish line of the 123rd Boston Marathon on April 15, 2019 in Massachusetts. Robert Morgenstern and Jessie Hogue-Morgenstern both completed their Boston Marathon qualifications together as a father-daughter duo. (Nicolaus Czarnecki/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
“All the pieces fell together,” she said. “I didn’t realize until maybe 2 miles from the finish that it was going to happen, and at that point I knew I could almost walk it in and still qualify. It was just an amazing feeling.”
The road to this year’s Boston began nearly 20 years ago for Morgenstern.
“The Charleston Distance Run is what got me into running long distances,” he said. “I had run shorter distances before and for me running was just a way to lose myself in my thoughts and also deal with stress.
“I started running marathons in 2006, and my daughter came to some of my first marathons, and then she started running a half marathon, and we actually ran her first half marathon together. I think my running – I know my running – piqued her interest, and I’ve done 20 marathons now, and I think she’s done eight or nine or ten, something like that.
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Both runners will share the joy of crossing Boston one step at a time, and they will also each run with a heart full of emotion in memory of Robert’s wife and Jessie’s mother, Mary Hogue, who died of breast cancer in December.
“Of course the thought was that she’d be there if we both started doing it together,” Jessie said, “so the fact that that’s not happening is weighing on our minds.
“We will definitely be emotional and we talk about it a lot because it’s good to talk about it and not keep everything inside. It will be emotional but I’m glad I can at least be there.” for him, and he will be there for me.”
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Robert said that while his wife didn’t take up running herself, she saw how it brought people together, including her husband and daughter.
“My wife always referred to marathons, especially the ones that take it seriously, as a cult,” he said, “and the bond we’ve developed through running is very, very strong, and it’s something that will keep us close for years to come .”
The journey from Hopkinton to Boston is 42.2 miles, just like any other marathon, but when father and daughter turn right on Hereford, turn left on Boylston, the pair will simultaneously watch the finish line and share all the emotions that come with the final steps.
“When you cross the finish line, it’s such an emotional experience,” Robert said, “whether it’s your first, 10th or 20th time. It’s just very emotional.”
