ANDOVER — Sushil Motwani was a volunteer for the Boston Marathon for many years. With the Merrimack Valley Striders he’d make the packets for the runners.
Many of his peers are also part of the “human chain” at the start of the race lining up in front of the corrals.
But he never imagined running the marathon himself. In fact, Motwani used to hate running. At school, he would even come in last.
“I did a lot of volunteer work, but I would say I was scared to run more than a 5k,” Motwani said.
But now running is one of Motwani’s favorite things to do, as he gears up as one of the nine sponsored runners the Merrimack Valley Striders is sending to the Boston Marathon on April 15.
The Merrimack Valley Striders was founded in 1979 for young, old, new and seasoned runners.
The group has programs like the couch-to-5k training, which Motwani started with for his renewed running career. The weekly sessions were coached by Merrimack Valley Striders members.
“I was a really big guy back then,” Motwani said. “It wasn’t really a health thing. I just wanted to do something different from what I was doing.”
For Motwani his running journey changed when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. He had been running 5ks with the Merrimack Valley Striders, but a group of friends through the running club thought he could go further.
“They said ‘no, you can do a 4-mile,’ and I said ‘nah,’” he recalls. “The next week they did 5 and it just kept going. Before I knew it I was running a half marathon in six months.”
That was in 2021. Motwani started running half marathons, or 13.1 miles, consistently, he said.
“I never wanted to do more than a half marathon,” Motwani said. “But then last year some of my friends convinced me that I am a good runner and I should really try a marathon.”
The Boston Marathon will be Motwani’s second marathon, or 26.2 miles. He ran in Chicago last year. Motwani worked to get a charity bib for the Windy City race. In October 2023, he ran with his brother-in-law to support Autism Speaks.
“It was awesome. It was a great experience,” Motwani said. “I got hooked on it.”
Motwani doesn’t think he will run marathons nonstop, but he is hoping to run at least one large race a year. His new goal is to tackle all six of the world major marathons: Chicago which he did, and Boston that he planned, in addition to New York, Tokyo, Berlin and London.
“My goal is to finish the six majors before I turn 60,” Motwani said. “Out of the .1% of runners (that complete a marathon), there’s a .1% of those that actually run all six. I want to be among that. From what I’ve heard it’s only about 15,000 people in the world.”
There are a few ways to get to the Boston Marathon. The first is by qualifying, but Motwani said such runners often start practicing as children. Motwani is about 90 minutes behind qualifying for his age, at 52 years old.
The second avenue is charity. It costs $10,000 for the Boston race, however. Chicago was $1,750.
Lastly, a runner could be sponsored. Motwani received his bib through the Merrimack Valley Striders. Other running clubs sponsor runners as well, but Motwani said his group has the highest number of participants.
He had to submit an application about why he is involved with the club, why Boston is his favorite running route and more.
“It’s a privilege,” Motwani said.
The training is hard, however, he said, adding that it takes “a lot of commitment.
“Everything stops around you. You spend eight to 10 hours just on the running…There’s a lot of sacrifices made in the process.”
The way Motwani’s training works, along with the Merrimack Valley Striders, is that he slowly added mileage. The most he ran for marathon training was 45 miles throughout a single week. There is often one long run during the training each week, but in general runners don’t run a full marathon-length prior to their first experience.
“The total distance throughout the week is what’s more important,” Motwani said.
This time around, however, Motwani has been able to train around Boston, on the actual course. He has ran twice from Hopkinton, the start of the famous race, to the end of Heartbreak Hill, a steep half-mile uphill at Mile 20 in Newton.
He has music to push him through the runs, too. The playlist, which is about 15 hours long, is mostly Bollywood music. There are a few hits influenced from his children as well: Taylor Swift and Rihanna.
“A lot of the songs are so good that I actually dance while running,” Motwani said. “That’s what keeps the running experience enjoyable.”
Motwani’s plan for this marathon, however, is to enjoy it. He said he ran his Chicago marathon in five hours and was focused on the time.
“I was more stressed about it,” he said. “I felt that I put so much energy into focusing on the time that I forgot to enjoy the whole experience.”
This time, Motwani plans to run with some of his Merrimack Valley Strider friends. He will high-five friends along the route and hug his family, who Motwani said should be along the race in Wellesley.
“The main goal is finish the race and enjoy the experience.”
Follow Monica on Twitter at @MonicaSager3