ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Nahant’s Linda Jenkins will run the Boston Marathon.
By STEVE KRAUSE
NAHANT — Grab the Torch is billed as an organization that teaches girls how to find their voices, follow their passions, make empathetic decisions, stay strong, and never give up.
Linda Jenkins of Nahant is 100 percent on board with GTT’s mission. But Monday, she’ll be ecstatic if she finds herself running across the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Jenkins, a real estate broker for Nahant Associates, has been friends with GTT founder and CEO David Aldrich for 17 years. However, last year he told her of his experiences of running the marathon for the first time. He also told her more about GTT and what it set out to do.
Jenkins, 63, was impressed — not only with the group, but with Aldrich’s drive.
“I just thought, ‘wow. Here’s a novice who never ran a day in his life and he basically trained and ran the whole marathon last year.”
Aldrich also lost 50 pounds too.
All of the above inspired Jenkins to join the GTT team this year. She will run alongside writer, academic and former military officer Paula Broadwell and longtime runner Grace Eberle to raise money for the group.
“It’s all about the empowerment for young women,” she said. “(Aldrich) does seminars in three different locations (Boston being one), and brings in all kinds of professionals to train them in leadership.
“Basically, he tries to inspire them and then have them walk out of there better for having taken the seminars.”
She definitely understands she’s the novice of the trio.
“Paula’s a military officer, so you know she’s in great shape,” Jenkins said. “And Grace, she looks like she runs for a living.”
Eberle pushed a young boy with cerebral palsy in the Marine Corps Marathon, a half-marathon, two 10ks and a 15k.
She also pushes the boy around the bases for Charlotte’s Miracle Baseball League, a national organization, similar to Lynn’s Challenger Little League, that gives special-needs children the chance to experience baseball.
Jenkins is on the extreme other end of this equation. She’d never run before she attempted to train for this year’s marathon. And when she told her doctor she was going to attempt it, “he told me ‘you do realize people die at that finish line, don’t you?’”
However, she persevered — and she said she even had to learn how to do that.
“For someone who has never exactly had to discipline myself, I found I wasn’t as disciplined as I thought I was,” she said. “I’d go to the gym a few times a week, but that’s not the same as going out in the freezing cold and the rain. I had to push myself to get out there in all kinds of weather.”
She also learned that there’s such a thing as overtraining.
“I didn’t realize I was going to be a part of this team until December,” she said, “so I had some catching up to do. I found that my knee was starting to swell up, and I had to cut back a little,” she said. “Now, it looks as if I’m going to walk some of the course and I’m going to run some of the course.
“I just want to finish,” she said, “and I want to be running when I cross that finish line.”
If she’s never run the race before, Jenkins is familiar enough with it.
“For a few years now, I’ve been a volunteer at Mile 25, giving out water to runners. It was such a great experience to see all the people run by me, in all kinds of condition. They’re only a mile away from the end, and you’re there trying to encourage them. And they’re coming up to me and thanking me.”
The 25th mile mark is just before Fenway Park — right outside of Kenmore Square.
“You can see Fenway Park behind you, and you can see the fans up top, turned around so they can see the runners, and you can hear the cheers. It’s such a great experience.”
Now, Jenkins gives herself a couple of days off a week.
“You have to rest, too,” she said. “Otherwise, you can’t train.”
Because the GTT team is so small, the women have had to raise $10,000 each. And Jenkins is almost there. And whether it’s racing, training to race, or raising money, Jenkins lives by the motto “let your faith be bigger than your fear.”
To contribute to Jenkins’ fund, go to www.crowdrise.com/grabthetorchboston2017/fundraiser/lindajenkins10 and follow the prompts.