In the hope of raising thousands for charity, a Kingston firefighter plans to run three major marathons in one year.
Hampstead resident Nathan McDonald is training to run the Boston, Chicago, and New York marathons by the end of the year.
The 40-year-old director at S&P Global finds time to train and fundraise thousands while raising two young boys with his wife, Danielle, and working per-diem shifts at the Kingston Fire Department.
McDonald loves running now, but he wasn’t always this way, saying, “I thought people that ran cross country and track were kind of crazy.”
When McDonald moved to Georgia in 2012, he started running to get into shape. After he joined the Augusta Striders running group in October the same year, he ran the Augusta’s Half-Marathon and Forks Area Trail System 50K. Soon after, McDonald ran marathons like the Savannah, Georgia, and the Charleston, South Carolina.
He moved back up to New Hampshire in 2014, and stopped running as frequently, due to family obligations and COVID. In 2023, a friend who worked for an events company approached him, offering to help McDonald run the Boston Marathon for charity.
“I had never planned on running another marathon again,” he recalls. “But I had said to myself, if it was ever going to run another marathon, the only one I would do is Boston.”
McDonald ran for the Boston Fire Department Relief Fund in 2024, raising $9,000. The charity supports firefighters in Boston and has a scholarship relief fund for Boston firefighter children.
He has worked with Kingston Fire since 2018. He started by earning his EMT license and taking response calls from home. After receiving his FD certification in 2023, he now picks up shifts at the firehouse, working an occasional 12-hour overnight to be there for his children in the mornings.
McDonald ran the Boston again this year, receiving a bib from his Salisbury, MA-based, Winner’s Circle Running Club. A small percentage of club bibs are given to select running clubs that have worked with the Boston Athletic Association over the years.
McDonald’s time was 3 hours and 37 minutes, his best marathon record. Inspired by this achievement, he decided to run the Chicago and New York marathons the same year.
For the Chicago Marathon on Oct 11, McDonald is running for Special Children’s Charities, a Chicago-based organization aiding children with physical and learning disabilities. He has already raised a little over his $2,500 goal.
For the New York Marathon on Nov 1, McDonald is running for Tunnels to Tower, an organization founded in tribute to NYFD firefighter Stephen Siller, who was killed in the 9/11 attacks. In the 25th anniversary year, McDonald has already raised $5,000 of his $6,000 minimum goal.
McDonald runs four to five days a week to train, following a regimen of shorter and longer runs. Longer runs can be up to 18-20 miles. “The hard part is balancing the training. Especially as you get into more miles each week,” he said. “A lot of times, it’s getting up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning to go run 13-15 miles.”
Another challenge McDonald faces this year is doing the Chicago and New York within three weeks of each other. “My plan is to really go out there and truly race Chicago and try to have a better time than I ran Boston this year,” he said.
New York will be more for enjoyment, rather than trying to beat any record.
McDonald plans to run all eight of the largest and renowned marathons recognized by the Abbott World Marathon Majors over the next five to 10 years. In addition to the Boston, New York, and Chicago, these include Berlin, Sydney, Capetown, Tokyo, and London.
For future event page announcements, including specific campaign links for upcoming Chicago or New York marathon efforts, you can follow his updates directly through his Nathan McDonald Facebook profile or check community posts on the Kingston NH Facebook Group.