Jackson runs for purpose
The Boston Marathon will always hold a special place in Annie Jackson’s heart.
While the Boston Latin sophomore treasures the weekend celebration of events leading up to Marathon Monday, she was one of many scarred by the tragedy of April 15, 2013, when a pair of bombs went off, killing three people.
One of the three was Martin Richard, a good friend of Jackson’s. She remains in constant contact with the family and serves on the board of the Martin Richard Foundation.
“I was really close friends with Martin and the Richard family,” Jackson said, fighting back tears. “The Saturday before the race, I was running with him. It means a lot to me to get involved in the foundation, I feel pretty lucky to be a part of it.
“We’re trying to get younger kids involved in the community through volunteering. We’re just trying to do good things for people.”
The fact that Jackson was asked to be on the board comes as no surprise to Boston Latin track coach Mike Meagher. He says Jackson is a special human being.
“She’s just a fabulous kid,” Meagher said. “I remember we were at the Twilight Meet in Falmouth and Annie was running for the first time (she was sidelined with a stress fracture). She ran pretty good, finished the race and was cooling down when she saw a kid from Newton South faint. Annie went over to her and stayed by her side for the rest of the night.”
Jackson’s desire to help others comes from her beginnings in the sport. An avid runner, Jackson was running as part of the Youth Enrichment Services (YES), a longtime nonprofit Boston-based organization designed in large part to provide affordable and impactful sports-based youth development and leadership programming for Boston children and teens. It was there where Jackson first developed her love for the Boston Marathon.
“Every marathon weekend, it would start with the relays in town,” Jackson said. “You would see so many young kids there, it was so much fun. I always looked forward to it.”
Jackson got a chance to be an official part of marathon weekend last year. She was invited to compete in the BAA Invitational Mile against a star-studded field of elite high school runners. Jackson turned in a solid time of 5:23.2, good for fourth place behind Natick’s Grace Connolly, Newton South’s Clare Martin and Isabella Giordano from Hopkinton.
“I was so lucky to get an opportunity to run, it was one of the highlights of my outdoor season,” Jackson said. “There were so many great competitors, girls I’ve run against and have so much respect for. To be running in the race with a big crowd watching, it gave me a glimpse of what running in the home stretch of the marathon is like.”
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