Family trip to Boston includes sightseeing — and running the marathon

Dorothy Gregory and her daughters are planning a girls' trip to Boston next weekend, but it won't just be to shop, catch a show or go to a tea party.

They'll see lots of sights, just not from the comfort of a tour bus or rickshaw.

They'll be running together in the historic Boston Marathon.

It's something Gregory, 65, said she never imagined when her daughters were little girls running around the yard of their Charlottetown home.

"It wasn't even in my dreams," she said.

The three will be among 14 people from P.E.I. registered for the 127th Boston Marathon, scheduled for April 17.

Gregory and her daughters have run the marathon before, but never together.

Carrie Gregory and Sandra Cottreau were cheering their mother on from the sidelines when she first ran the 42.2-kilometre course in 2011. She ran again in 2019 with her husband.

Carrie, 33, and Sandra, 30, ran it together last year.

Now this year, their mother, after achieving the qualifying time in Maine last spring, will be lacing up her sneakers and joining them.

I think it's more meaningful, even if you're not running together on the course, knowing that, you know, your family's out there, too.— Sandra Cottreau

Carrie said it's fitting since she was the one who got them interested in running in the first place.

"Mom said she wanted to go one last time because it is hard to qualify and she's not sure if she will be able to go again, so she said she wanted to go and we said, 'Sure we'll go with you.'"

The three will go to the starting line together, but, with 30,000 runners competing, will probably not see each other until they're dripping with sweat at the finish line.

But they'll be on each other's minds, said Sandra, who won the women's division at the P.E.I. Marathon last October.

"I think it's more meaningful, even if you're not running together on the course, knowing that, you know, your family's out there, too, and at the finish line can all join back together and know that we did it together."

They'll be travelling together by bus on Friday with other runners from the Maritimes. The city will be abuzz for race weekend, Carrie said, so they'll take in a few events but try to stay off their feet as much as they can before the race the following Monday.

"One of the things I like about running is we get to create this experience for ourselves and go together and it's something we're going to remember forever."

Sisters motivate each other

Carrie, a registered nurse, is aiming to run the marathon in three hours and 20 minutes, but said she's "just as excited to see my sister run it and what she can do."

"Sandra and I motivate each other. She's a little bit faster than me, so seeing her going out training and improving, I'm like, 'Oh let's see what I can do.' And then as I get faster she likes to stay a little bit ahead of me so then she has to get faster."

Sandra, a dietitian, is hoping to beat her 2022 Boston Marathon time of 3:11. She'll also be cheering for her sister — up to a point.

"If anyone was to beat me, I'd be OK for it to be her because I  know she works really hard … but at the same time, if she's next to me and we're at the end of a race, I'm going to want to try and beat her."

Dorothy, a research technician at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, has more modest goals.

"I'm going to enjoy it, I don't want to put pressure on a time, so I'm just hoping to finish."