Andrea Marguerite intends to honor her uncle, cousin and a family friend who lost their battles with addiction as she runs to support the Boston Marathon this year.

Andrea Marguerite hopes her first marathon run can make a difference in the lives of those struggling with addiction and substance use disorders.

“If I can take that experience and turn it into something that helps even one person or one family, it’s just so much more meaningful to me,” she said.

Running the Boston Marathon brings together Marguerite’s history of growing up in Hopkinton and the personal losses that shaped her perspectives on the world. She will join the race this year to raise money for addiction treatment as she honors the memories of loved ones who lost their battles with addiction.

She explained that she lost both her uncle Reno and cousin David to addiction, along with a family friend named Vanessa she said was like a sister to her. Marguerite recalled learning of her uncle’s death when she was in sixth grade and of Vanessa’s the following year.

“When you’re at that age, you don’t understand exactly what’s happening, and you just kind of wake up one morning and that person is no longer there,” Marguerite said.

In navigating the grief of those losses, Marguerite said she has found purpose.

“Losing them to addiction at such a young age really shaped how I see the world and made me really want to be part of something,” she said.

Marguerite’s marathon run this year will support the Herren Project, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit that provides free resources and support for substance abuse disorder treatment, recovery and prevention. The organization was founded by former professional basketball player Chris Herren.

The relationship between the Herren Project and Marguerite dates back to 2023. While preparing to run the Falmouth Road Race, she had been searching for a charity that felt worth running for. “My first instinct was that I want to run for addiction and substance abuse treatment,” she explained. “They were the first organization that came up, and I just kind of stuck with that.”

Now, whenever Marguerite is applying for a charity bib, the Herren Project is her charity of a choice. “That was my first and top organization [when] I applied for the Boston Marathon, and I’m very grateful that I got into it,” she added.

Hopkinton provides inspiration

Having grown up for the majority of her life in Hopkinton, Marguerite said seeing the marathon every year had a strong influence on her decision to run. And although she grew up an athlete, running entered her life more recently.

Marguerite was a four-year student athlete on the field hockey team at Babson College, from which she recently graduated with a masters in business analytics. Prior to that, she played field hockey in school outside of the Hopkinton Public Schools system and spent years playing town sports. 

“That’s how I really built my connection to the community,” she said in regard to the town’s youth sports leagues. “It’s nice to feel like I’m a part of the town even though I didn’t go to school there.”

While running was a part of training for field hockey, she didn’t really engage with it as a sport until her father invited her to participate in a race. Her father, who runs a local construction company, was putting together a team of employees to run the Sharon Timlin Memorial 5K and asked her if she wanted to participate. That race ended up rolling into others.

“That turned into me doing the Boston 10K the next summer, which turned into the Falmouth Road Race, then to the Boston Half and now the Boston Marathon,” she said.

Having spent the last few years building up to Boston, Marguerite said her training for the race has been going well. She does have concerns over knee injuries sustained in her youth but noted she holds to a strict training schedule and keeps an eye on how her body is feeling.

Completing the race is the goal, but Marguerite admitted a natural competitiveness is driving her. She hopes to finish in around 4 hours and 15 minutes, which translates to a 9:47 pace. “I’m on track to do that, so that’s exciting,” she noted.

Most of her training has been solo, although she and her roommate — who also is running the Boston Marathon this year — run together from time to time. “I don’t mind running alone,” Marguerite said. 

“I think those longer runs are a little bit more tough when you’re running on your own,” she added.

Marguerite, who lives in South Boston, said she already has previewed parts of the course. She noted some surprise when trying Heartbreak Hill in Newton. “You hear about it, but I didn’t realize that it’s like three or four hills in one,” she said.

‘No one survives without others investing in them’

Marguerite is tasked with raising $12,500 for the Herren Project this year. As of mid-April, she was less than $300 from her goal.

The Herren Project has supported Marguerite’s efforts, and with the organization’s help she has put on fundraising events such as a yoga fundraiser and a raffle.

Marguerite provided a brief breakdown of how the donations she receives will benefit individuals who go to the Herren Project for help. A donation of $50 can help fund one of the organization’s “healing packages,” which include items intended to support individuals as they transition out of treatment settings. 

On the high end, a $2,500 donation can cover the whole cost of a person’s recovery journey. The $11,000 she already raised can fund healing journeys for four people, she explained.

Other efforts funded by the money Marguerite raises include family support groups and Herren Project clubs — the organization’s school peer networking program.

“The money can be used in all those ways,” she said. 

Marguerite said her effort and the money she raises can make a big difference for those battling addiction. “It’s really about trying to create something positive out of something that is really difficult,” she said.

She also shared a quote she came up with that she believes captures what the Herren Project is all about. “If everything was about the individual self, then society would collapse because no one survives without others investing in them,” said Marguerite.

Among those planning to watch her race on Marathon Monday are her parents and her brother, Anthony. She also anticipates having other family members there to cheer her on, along with friends who live in the Boston area.

One moment Marguerite is looking forward to is running through Wellesley and past a section of the course where she and her friends from Babson used to watch the race every year.

“It’s one of those memories that, when I was standing there, I never thought I would be the one running by all those people now,” she said.

“I think that’s going to be a really nice full-circle moment,” she added.