Boston Marathon Faces of the Field: Naitik Shah

In April, our plan was to launch our “Faces of the Field” campaign and highlight some runners you’d see cross the finish line of the 124th Boston Marathon. Obviously, the Marathon is now virtual, so we asked our group to tell us their 2020 Virtual Boston Marathon feels, plans, and expectations! Everyone meet Naitik!

“Yes, I will be running the 124th Boston “virtual” Marathon in memory of my Mom and my best friend Kushal who I lost to Cancer. Being a DFMC charity runner I am in the best shape of my life, physically and would like to build on it for the better. Our running coach Jack Fultz has provided us with a new training plan to help us be ready for the marathon in September. He has explained in detail about the Dos’ and Don’ts’ of training in summer with more emphasis on recovery. We also have our DFMC2020 group created on Strava as all our team members are training by themselves. We have a DFMC2020 Facebook group, to stay in touch with everyone, where we also post how we did in our training runs and motivate each other and help each other out if need be.

Although I haven’t decided where I plan to run 26.2 virtually, I am hoping to join a few DFMC friends who are also going to run virtually and join them for 26.2 miles keeping in mind the social distance regulations and other precautions. I am also considering involving my friends to join me for a mile or two to help me finish the virtual marathon .

Although this was not the way I envisioned running my 2nd Boston Marathon, I will definitely be back next year, again as part of the incredible Dana-Farber charity supporting my quest for “A World without Cancer”! “

Author: Amanda P.