26 Strong: Getting Back Up

Marisa Boasa, the first-timer in Team 8, took a nasty spill over the weekend when she fell on a run. As she says, “Luckily, no broken bones.” But she has a couple of scrapped knees and some sore muscles to deal with.

Marisa and her partner, Jill Karno, are part of the Saucony 26 Strong project, a collaboration between Competitor and Saucony that pairs experienced marathon vets with first-timers (“cadets”) as they both train to achieve their marathon goals.

But Marisa has a good story to tell from her visit to the ER.

“The ER doctor said that my desire to figure out quickly if I could run again so soon after the injury as inspired him to run again,” she says. “Everything happens for a reason.

“My husband said, ‘She’ll run with you if you clear her.”

Before she left, the nurse said that they’d wheel her out to the car. But she refused.

“Recovery starts now,” she told her. “I will rest today and tomorrow, but I have a running schedule to stick to!”

As she said a few days later, “I took a fall, but I got up and will be stronger in no time.”

We are very confident you’ll find Marisa at the starting line of the ING Hartford Marathon on Oct. 12. And there now may even be an ER doc there to watch her finish.

Find out more about Marisa and her veteran partner Jill, here.