Alex Brito will run his first Boston Marathon in support of Hopkinton’s Veterans Celebration Committee.

Alex Brito always has been a big supporter of veterans and the military, so he was excited to jump at the chance to run his first Boston Marathon in support of Hopkinton’s Veterans Celebration Committee.

“I have a deep respect for military veterans,” Brito, 32, wrote on his official marathon fundraising page (gofundme.com/f/help-alex-honor-veterans-in-boston-marathon). “This marathon is more than just a race for me; it’s an honor to gather miles for those who have fought to preserve the freedoms we enjoy.”

The chance came along relatively late in the game. Brito learned in February that he would have this opportunity. He has never run an official marathon, but has been running for more than a decade and has logged a number of runs exceeding the half-marathon distance. This is the latest in a long line of athletic endeavors for him.

“I have been working out since I was in college, and I have been wanting to push myself with something like this for a minute now,” he said in a recent interview. “I am really ecstatic and elated to have the opportunity to run one of the biggest marathons in the world, and have it be my first one, too.”

He added: “It’s pretty crazy how things worked out.”

A graduate of the Wentworth Institute of Technology, Brito was born and raised in Cambridge and lives in Chestnut Hill. He has been training with the Heartbreak running crew in Newton most weekends, getting acclimated to the hills he is going to see during the latter half of the race. He also spent some time in China recently, but he did not let that slow his progress, running more than 15 miles in Shanghai with nothing more than a bottle of water. Brito said the experience on race day will be much more exciting.

“I am looking forward to being a force multiplier of the groups of people that are going to be out there and just being swept up by that group spirit of all the runners and all the supporters rooting for us to push through,” he said, “especially around Mile 20 and Heartbreak Hill. I am excited about that and all the energy that comes with that.”

The cause he is supporting also continues to motivate him.

“Think about what these guys do,” Brito said. “When your mind is telling you that you want to give up, and your body is in pain, you can’t give that pain a voice. You just have to know it’s temporary and just keep pushing through.”

Brito wrote on his fundraising page that he hopes to embody the military spirit when he is out there on the course.

“This race is my way of honoring their sacrifices,” he wrote, “and running for a cause larger than myself.”