Sutton native prepares for Boston Marathon as elite competitor

Like the Red Sox, Jessie Cardin and her Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project teammates headed to Florida for spring training.

And especially if Monday turns out to be a warm one, such preparation for the Sutton native should pay off at the 127th Boston Marathon, in her first run at her home race, and as an elite competitor on the John Hancock Professional Athlete Team.

"(Coach Kevin Hanson) always has a reason for what he does," Cardin said early this week from Kissimmee, Florida, where the Hansons team, which is based in Rochester, Michigan, was slated to depart for Boston on Friday. "He wants us to be able to know what it feels like to be humid out there."

This was the trip to taper down the mileage in preparation for race day, while sampling conditions for a possible scorcher.

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"You want to be used to heat and humidity because you never know," Cardin said. "We've trained through a lot of different types of weather in Michigan, and this should really help us."

Nearly 30,000 from around the world are entered for this year's Boston Marathon, which will be the last with John Hancock Financial Services as primary sponsor. Bank of American will be the presenting partner for next year's event.

The professional women start at 9:47 a.m., 10 minutes after the pro men.

Cardin, who was traveling to Boston on her 27th birthday, is coming off two impressive road races this year, which followed a remarkable marathon debut last October in Chicago, where her time of two hours, 33 minutes, 34 seconds, qualified her for next February's U.S. Olympic Trials.

Add the fact she built a solid mileage base and fitness level, Cardin feels she's at the top of her game and ready to compete in the elite field.

"It's kind of surreal. I never thought I'd be a marathoner — sure, I thought I'd run in one, but to run in an elite field with the likes of Sara Hall, Emma Bates, Sara Vaughn, Des Linden, ... it's hard for me not to be a fan girl. But the thought that I get to run with them, I've got to tell myself, 'You're a professional distance runner, too.'

"Just stick you nose in and see what you can do, with the utmost respect."

More: Grafton's Katelyn Fairhurst is running her first Boston Marathon for Team Eye & Ear

Impressive performance at Houston Half

Cardin gained plenty of respect from the road running world Jan. 15 at the Houston Half Marathon.

"I've always been partial to half marathons," said Cardin, a multiple Telegram & Gazette Super Teamer at Sutton High before earning All-America honors at Westfield State. "Before this race, I hadn't really raced aggressively, by sticking my nose in while showing people I belong."

She and teammates Olivia Pratt, Anne-Marie Blaney and Amy Davis-Green went with the strategy of maintaining a 5:25 per-mile pace, for a projected finish in the 11:11:30 range. Pratt and Blaney also are in the Boston women's elite field.

Cardin's aggressive approach paid off, as she shredded her previous best for 13.1 miles by more than a minute, crossing in 1:10:52, placing 10th among women, and the sixth American.

She took five days off the roads after Houston before building a healthy mileage base. The weeks eventually averaged 110-115 miles per week, topping out at 120.

Only once had Cardin run so much in a week, "for fun" for 126 miles, during the 2020-21 school year while teaching at the Eagle Hill School in Hardwick. But now she's starting to enjoy becoming a mileage machine.

"I love it," Cardin said. "(Hanson) sent me out for longer doubles — instead of running maybe a 12-miler and a 4 later on, I'd run a 12 and a 6. Some of my recovery days would also be 18 miles.

"I'm blessed to say that after running 120 miles three weeks in a row, while I thought I'd be ready to be tired, I'm still feeling so good. I love it, I love marathon training."

Cardin's second fine performance in 2023 was a second-place women's finish in the New Bedford Half Marathon March 19, during a Boston Marathon prep week for the Hansons squad.

During the week leading up to New Bedford, the runners turned in workouts in segments over the Boston course, covering miles 1-6, 6-18 and 12-26, amounting to coverage of each mile on the course at least twice over the five days.

The New Bedford Half indeed was a training run for Cardin and her teammates, including a few pre-race warmup miles, heading through the first 10 miles of the race at marathon pace, then letting loose for the final 5K. Cardin finished in 1:13:14, before a 4-mile, warm-down run and a mad rush to the airport for the flight back to Michigan.

Realistic goals for Monday

Cardin's pace for those first 10 miles at New Bedford was slated for 5:43, and that's the objective for Boston. Such a pace translates into a sub-2:30 marathon, a goal Cardin is confident she can accomplish.

"I know that's something I'd really like to accomplish," she said. "I feel honored to run with these runners I've admired, running a race I grew up watching, and on my home turf."

Cardin is not looking at where in the field she finishes.

"Time is the biggest thing, and running smart," she said. "People have to learn to run smart. You want to be conservative in the beginning."

Cardin holds the utmost respect for what she feels presents Boston's challenge of the day — the hills on Newton between miles 16 and 20, "not just Heartbreak Hill."

The Hanson team came away from last month's Commonwealth Avenue workouts echoing to Cardin, "these hills are hell." All Cardin could muse was "It's exactly what Massachusetts is like.

"I respect you, and I know I'm going to feel it," Cardin expresses to the hills. "I'm going to overcome you, but I won't act like you're not there."

She has watched numerous Boston Marathons since childhood, many from the start, others from along Beacon Street, Brookline. Her brother's girlfriend lives a mile from the start in Hopkinton.

Cardin missed the 2013 Marathon marred by the finish-line bombing while on a recruiting visit to Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. Cardin senses the importance of this 10th anniversary since the event's most tragic moment.

Last year's Marathon Cardin viewed via livestream. "The energy as a spectator is so jazzed, I can only imagine what it's like as a runner."

The built-up excitement rivals that of her first trip to the NCAA Division 3 Cross-Country Championships, as a sophomore at Westfield State. Cardin, however, is poised to temper the excitement, and have her fitness take over, while sticking to the strategy.

"I feel I've gained more marathon maturity. Before, it seemed I was just so happy to be here."

Like Tim Ritchie and Colin Bennie as local elite entries in Boston over recent years, Cardin is energized to perform in front of a home crowd covering 26-2 miles, from Hopkinton to Boston.

"I have so many family and friends coming, and they know how near and dear this is to me," she said. "I feel like I'm 12 years old again getting ready for this.

"It's all going to pay off on April 17th."

—Contact John Conceison at john.conceison@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @ConceisonJohn.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Sutton native prepares for 127th Boston Marathon as elite competitor