After adopting her dog, Obi, from Baypath Humane Society, Jen English will run the Boston Marathon to support the shelter.
Jen English will run her first Boston Marathon in 2024 to support Baypath Humane Society, a nonprofit animal shelter in Hopkinton, “because the shelter rescued and connected me with my best friend!”
Born and raised in New Hampshire, English moved to Massachusetts in 2016 for a job after graduating college. In 2021, COVID required her to begin working from the home she shared with her sister, and, like many, they began to feel the effects of pandemic-induced isolation.
Her coworker at the time, Sandy Gittlen, volunteered at Baypath and began to send English information about animals in need of a home.
“She showed me a picture of a dog she thought would be perfect for my sister and me,” English recalled. It was an older canine that had been surrendered by her owners and suffered a lot of stress.
At first, the sisters were only going to foster, but they quickly became attached to the sweet, timid rescue and ended up adopting her. English named her Obi, after Obi-Wan Kenobi of “Star Wars.”
English and Obi have been together for three years now and “forged a bond I can’t even begin to describe,” she wrote on her fundraising page.
Per its website (baypathhumane.org), Baypath Humane Society is “dedicated to providing shelter, care, humane treatment and loving homes for stray or unwanted companion animals.” Fundraising is critical to support Baypath’s mission.
“I had done a half-marathon in October, and at the end of that run, I’d thought, ‘I couldn’t imagine doing another 13.1 miles after that,’ ” English shared. “But then Sandy needed volunteers to take Baypath’s marathon bib.”
English started running cross country and track in seventh grade. A natural sprinter, she said she wasn’t into long distances right away, but she eventually made a good friend through longer runs and kept at it until she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in college.
After a long recovery, she began running again because “it’s a good way to get out, to not have distractions.” Still, she hadn’t set her sights on a full marathon until Gittlen — who has run Boston for Baypath herself — encouraged her to sign up.
Seeing firsthand the difference Baypath made for Obi was motivation to go the extra miles, so English will be at the start line April 15.
“I know it can be difficult to get a bib, so I feel privileged to be able to experience Boston,” she added. “There’s so much history, and it’s really meaningful.”
It’s a lesson on the power of love to heal and inspire — for both humans and humans’ best friends.
Watching Obi transform from a traumatized dog to a joyful one has been a wonderful thing to witness, English reflected, and “to go from thinking I might not walk properly again to doing the marathon has been pretty cool.”
Added English: “The biggest thing I’ve been learning through training and fundraising is the incredible resilience of body and mind that we have when we push our limits.”
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