73 Wellesley residents are listed among the official entrants on the Boston Marathon website, giving us all plenty to cheer about as runners cruise through town at the halfway mark of the course on April 16. Our hometown runners range in age from 21 – 70 (you must be at least 18 to run), and there are about 40 women and 30 men racing. To get there on sheer athleticism alone, the speediest of age groups had to have run a previous marathon in a qualifying time of 3 hours, 5 seconds for men ages 18 – 34; and 3 hours, 35 seconds for women in that age group.

Those who didn’t qualify but had determination, discipline, and amazing fundraising capabilities raised $4,000 – $5,000 to run to help out local organizations such as Wellesley Education Foundation and A Better Chance.

For spectators, know that the mobility impaired runners leave Hopkinton at 8:40am; the elite woman start out at 9:32am; and the elite men and the first wave of runners get going at 10am. If you want to see them all, and I highly recommend it for the sheer vicarious exhilaration of it, I’d say get to your viewing spot by 9:30 to see the first mobility impaired and chair athletes roll on through.

Good luck to the many runners taking on the 26.2 miles for charitable causes including Wellesley’s own Wonder Woman and cancer survivor Carol Chaoui and the two family members who are joining her, and everybody who’s had the discipline to get out there to put down mile after training mile and collect dollar upon dollar for worthy causes.

Great Runs, including in Wellesley

For those who approach running in more of a recreational sort of way, check out the newly launched website Great Runs. Site founder and former Wellesley resident Mark Lowenstein calls it “The ultimate guide to the best running routes in the world’s major cities and destinations.”

Basically, it’s a guide is for travelers who run and runners who travel. It is oriented toward those who are visiting a location, and for those who live in that city. Lowenstein’s goal is to help runners discover iconic routes, which they can search by location or keyword. Geared toward your daily, typical runner, the average length of a Great Runs route is about 5 miles, but most of the routes have multiple mileage options.

“We’re very focused on doing our research and highly curating our routes,” Lowenstein says. “Our contributing editors are all people who are runners themselves and local experts.”

Of course Wellesley is included, with the path that loops Lake Waban, and Wellesley College featured.

He’s also written a few Great Runs books, one that focuses on runs in Boston; one that covers the suburbs; and another about Brookline and the vicinity. You can find them at Marathon Sports, Wellesley Books, and on Amazon.

Why the plug for Mark? Because here at The Swellesley Report we owe him a huge debt of gratitude. Back when Swellesley was just a hobby for Bob and me, Mark encouraged us to take it to the next level, giving us business advice and invaluable tips about how to proceed. So thanks for believing in Swellesley and in us all those years ago, Mark!