Marisa Cofone will return to her hometown April 20 to attempt her first Boston Maratho

Marisa Cofone may not be playing her flute these days, but she looks back fondly on her experiences in the music programs at Hopkins Elementary School and Hopkinton Middle School.

“I didn’t continue playing, but I learned lessons from the great staff about how to appreciate music,” Cofone said. That knowledge carries over today when she attends a symphony performance or notices the music during movies.

To show her appreciation, Cofone is running the Boston Marathon on behalf of the Hopkinton Music Association.

An engineer working 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Eli Lilly in Boston, she wakes up early to prepare for the event, often running around the Charles River and devoting herself to a healthy lifestyle, she said, which includes nutrition and exercise.

The rest of her regime includes strength training, cross training and physical therapy.

Although this will be the first time Cofone participates in the Boston Marathon, she completed a marathon in Wells, Maine, last year.

She is not feeling any nerves about what is ahead. “I know I can do it, so the stress is gone,” Cofone said.

Instead, she is feeling nothing but excitement about what she terms “a whole community day.”

“It is a big part of my childhood experience,” she noted, having lived the first 16 years of her life in town. “It’s when everyone comes together in Hopkinton.”

Cofone said that the charity aspect of the Boston Marathon makes it stand out to her, as well as the prospect of running in front of a huge number of spectators.

Included in that crowd will be her parents, who are traveling from Florida to watch, her sister and brother-in-law and several friends.

Cofone turned mainly to family and friends for fundraising support, surpassing her $6,000 goal by mid-March.

Funds raised will be used for formal concert wear, scholarships for lessons and graduating seniors, music enrichment trips and the repair or purchase of school-owned musical instruments.

Now a resident of Boston, Cofone has been watching Boston Marathon runners cross the finish line for several years. She looks forward to being on the starting line this time on April 20 and giving back to an organization that has made an impact on her life.