Westover "Port Dawg" runs Boston Marathon for Martin Richard charity

by Master Sgt. Timm Huffman
439th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

5/5/2014 - WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. -- When the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing killed 8-year-old Martin Richard and injured his sister, mother and hundreds of others, people from across New England, and the country, stood at the ready to support in any way they could. Sadly, in such situations, most can only show solidarity by silently grieving.

However, one fleet-footed Westover Airman recently had a chance to help that family in a very tangible way.

Senior Airman J.R. Fallon heard a radio announcement in January that the Martin Richard Charitable Foundation, MR8 for short, was accepting applications for charity runners to participate in the 118th Boston Marathon.

Fallon was a week out from his departure for Basic Military Training when the bombing happened in 2013. He recalls being glued to the TV as the events following the tragedy unfolded. When he arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, for his military training, he said other trainees kept asking him what he knew about it.

The Boston resident already had three marathons under his belt, including a trail marathon in New York with 5,560 feet of climbing, and thought joining team MR8 would be a great way to give back to a cause to which he felt so emotionally attached. The Boston Marathon, which has strict qualifying standards for athletes, makes an exception for about 3,000 participants running for charities. After filling out the 11-page MR8 team application, he waited.

He didn't have to wait long. The Westover aerial porter, who grew up attending the marathon with his mom, was invited to do a phone interview. Shortly after that, he received an e-mail from Martin Richard's father asking him to join the team. He was one of 50, selected from 500 applicants.

"Mr. Richard told me later that he could tell right away when he was reading the applications who really cared and who just wanted to get into the marathon on a charity bib number," said Fallon, who would later meet the family at team functions.

As part of Team MR8, he was personally financially obligated for $7,500, which would go to help improve education and athletics in communities. He would also have to train hard in order to be ready for the Boston Marathon, which was less than 12 weeks away at the time. Most marathon training plans call for a minimum of 16 weeks of training.
Despite those challenges, the young Airman joined the team.

Training for a marathon is no easy task.  Fallon's schedule and the particularly harsh winter didn't make it any easier. With two weeks of annual tour scheduled in the middle of his already-truncated training cycle, the 58th Aerial Port Airman had to work hard to find the time - and new running routes - while at Westover. He said the lengthy cold snap didn't help either.

Because of these circumstances,  Fallon said he focused on logging enough miles to be marathon ready rather than pace he was running. Included in that mileage was an 18-mile run around the base, through the towns of Chicopee, Granby, Ludlow and South Hadley.

Despite the training barriers, the Boston University graduate student did have some high points, including a happenstance meeting with another MR8 team member during a training run in Beverly.

"Danny Marshall was the first person I met from the team. He ran past and noticed my MR8 hat and turned around and caught up to me. We stopped and talked about our training and the upcoming race."

Unlike his training, his fundraising effort was full of high points. He started by asking friends and family for donations, which brought in about $3,500. He then formed a core fundraising team, which included his girlfriend, cousin and two close friends, to organize a fundraiser at a local restaurant. Between the 50/50 and raffle, he raised $3,000. A connection he made during the dinner made an additional $500 donation the next day.
Because he reached his funding goal by early March, the "Port Dawg" decided to up his target to $10,000. In total, he raised $9,310!

"Had I been afraid of the financial constraints, I never would have had this experience," he said. "I made a decision with my heart and it worked out."

He said another highlight of the whole process was meeting all of the people who genuinely and deeply cared about the cause and the Richard family.

The day of the big race dawned beautiful and clear - a premonition of what would be an amazing and emotional day in Boston.  Fallon was awake long before the sun, however, and slipped into his race kit: an Air Force ball cap, his PT shorts, neon-green socks, yellow long sleeve and his MR8 singlet.

"When I pulled on that jersey, I was automatically filled with this sense of pride knowing I'd be representing the Richard family," he said. "It was the same feeling I get when putting on my Air Force uniform."

The Westover runner found himself at the race start, known as Athlete's Village, in Hopkinton at 5 a.m. Because there are so many runners (36,000 in total) and the streets are so narrow, marathoners are seeded into four waves, with the first runners starting at 10 a.m.  Fallon was placed in wave four, with an 11:25 start time.

He passed the time waiting with his teammates, including Danny, who he had met mid-run, weeks earlier.

"It was surreal being there that day," he said. "It felt like my first marathon, even though it was my fourth."

When the gun went off, the energy of the race was so high that Fallon, who said running a marathon is usually a solo event, was completely absorbed and ran with his teammates for the first eight miles. At mile four, a woman he was running with said Meb Keflezighi, an American elite runner who spoke at the team dinner prior to the race, had won the race outright, something that hadn't happened since 1983!

Fallon felt strong through the halfway mark, but as the race wore on, his body began to wear down. The day was warm, about 70 degrees, and the course is fully exposed to the sun. But with more than one million spectators lining the 26.2 mile course, he said getting a boost of energy was easy.

"I was in awe of what was going on. It was just unbelievable in terms of the number of people there. If I was feeling low, I'd put my hand out, go to the side line and feed off all the energy," he said.

Wearing his Air Force and MR8 gear brought him even more attention than the average runner. He said that many times during the race spectators would send words of encouragement and cheers his way because they recognized the Air Force or MR8 symbols.

After 4:47:31, Fallon crossed the finish line, exhausted and overwhelmed with emotion.

"Finishing the Boston Marathon that day was extremely emotional in all aspects," he said. "It ranks right up there with graduating basic training in terms of one of my proudest accomplishments."

Following the race, Fallon made use of the showers provided by MR8 and attended the team after party. He plans to stay involved with the charity by working to instill running and education in kids in Dorchester and raising funds through running future Boston Marathons.

"That day was, by far, the most incredible day of my entire life."