As thousands prepare to take on the Boston Marathon, Marblehead’s Lori Sherf is gearing up for her 12th run — driven not by time or placement, but by a long-standing commitment to cancer research and a new chance to share the experience with her sons.
“I started in 1997 when I was 25 years old,” says Sherf. “My grandfather was treated at Dana- Farber and I had just started a teaching career and had some time and a friend suggested I run, and I thought it would be fun. I had never run more than five miles before, but it seemed like fun and a good cause, so I signed up!”
Over the course of the last 29 years and 11 marathons, Sherf has raised over $100,000 for Dana-Farber over $32,000 of which has been raised this year alone. This year, “Team Sherf” hopes to raise $45,000.
“Running is still a privilege to me,” said Sherf. “It’s a way to give back to society, and it was a way to contribute financially, You know, an amount of money that I could never contribute on my own. I was working as a teacher, I still work in Swampscott part-time as a teacher, I would never have been able to donate a hundred thousand dollars without running.”
This year Sherf will be joined for the first time by two of her sons, Adam and Jacob. Adam, aged 25, was an athlete at MHS and became the student manager of the Connecticut College basketball team. Jacob, aged 23, walked on to the baseball team at Middlebury College.
“They were never really runners, but they just kind of embraced the challenge of running the marathon,” said Sherf.
Even though they have limited experience in distance running, Sherf says that the prospect of running the marathon with her sons is “surreal. It’s just been fun sharing our weekly runs and sending updates during the week on our mileage and how we’re doing with the fundraising. It’s definitely surreal.”
When it comes to athletic goals, Lori, who tore her ACL in 2016, simply hopes to continue her streak of finishing the whole race.
“We really won’t be running together per se,” said Sherf. “They’re going to do their own race and I’m going to do my own race. They’ll probably be way ahead of me, but just sharing the whole training experience with them has been really special.”
So far, Team Sherf has raised over $38,000 for Dana-Farber and now sit close to their $45,000 goal. Donations can be made at http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/TeamSherf.
The Curent wishes the best of luck to all Marblehead runners. They include:
Zach Blatt, Tyler Callahan, Margaux Danforth, Daniel Donato, Matthew Duca, Kristin Gendron, Liam Hill, Richard Jordan, Montana Joyce, John Lequin, Ava Mahoney, Jenn Mangold, Ross Patterson, Emily Promise, Sally Reiley, Adam Sherf, Jacob Sherf, Lori Sherf, Thomas Smith, Scott Snyder, Sarah Strachan, Chloe Trudel, Brian Wishart and Bethany Zanrucha.
