The longest competitive race Caroline Johnson ‘25 has ever run is a 10K, and she has never fundraised for anything in her life. In April, she will run the most prestigious marathon in the country and has until then to meet her goal of $20,000 for Massachusetts General Hospital, or MGH.
Also, she has about half a dozen chronic illnesses.
“I knew I really wanted to do it for MGH because I’ve been able to still participate in running in some capacity due to a lot of my things getting diagnosed not too late,” she said.
Johnson ran long distance at Lafayette College for three years before being forced to medically retire from the track and cross country team, and served as team manager during her senior year.
While the Boston Marathon typically requires a qualifying time for runners to enter, fundraising for a charity bypasses that requirement. Almost 200 nonprofits are partnering for this year’s race, though entering through that process is also competitive. Last year, 3,200 charity runners raised a record $50.4 million for 176 organizations.
Johnson applied for the Massachusetts General Hospital charity team with a lofty goal of $20,000. She said she was “really surprised” about her acceptance in October.
“I know they have a lot of people who do it every year, and I know it’s one of the most popular teams for the marathon,” said the Massachusetts native. She has wanted to run the Boston Marathon since she was a kid, watching it almost every year.
Johnson started running competitively at age 10. Her life took a turn in high school when she was diagnosed with Celiac disease at 14. The next year, it was vocal cord dysfunction. She closed out her senior year with spondyloarthritis — arthritis of the spine — that caused full-body stiffness and “excruciating” back pain. College then brought on a whole other array of things, including amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome, which causes random pain.
“It’s kind of a laundry list,” Johnson said. “I hit a lot of organ systems.”
Despite having a strong season her sophomore year, the pain disorder made running “very difficult.”
“My senior year, my body physically couldn’t do it,” Johnson said. “I would go for a three-mile jog at an easy pace, and my whole body would hurt for the rest of the day.”
So how is she going to run a marathon?
“As someone with a lot of chronic illnesses, I do have to train a little differently,” Johnson said. “I do think when it comes to athletics, people have a very one-way view of training.”
She is currently training three to four days a week to work herself up to 22 miles. Her goal is to be under five hours; she runs with an EpiPen and inhaler in a fanny pack.
“I know me, like three years ago when I was a senior in high school would’ve been like, ‘That’s crazy, that’s so slow,’ but it’s what I need to do now,” Johnson said.
“She dealt with so many injuries, illnesses and things that happened throughout her career, and I think the fact that she always kept her head up really high was something that really stood out to me,” assistant track and field coach Anthony Dentino said of Johnson.
As for achieving her ambitious fundraising goal, Johnson said she will focus on crowdfunding, advertising and a March Madness bracket pool, noting that some of her former teammates had already donated to the campaign.
Johnson said she is “too confident” about achieving her goal.
“I think if you go in thinking you’re not gonna get 20k, you’re not gonna get 20k,” she said.
Pediatric gastroenterologist Mark Salvatore from Massachusetts General Hospital helped Johnson get her Celiac diagnosis and saw her annually until she transitioned out of pediatric care last year. He is not aware of another former patient of his running to fundraise for the hospital and said it was “quite touching.”
“Her running the marathon is really in line with her character as an advocate for those struggling with chronic illness,” he said.
Salvatore ran the marathon for another charity team once and also lives on the race’s route.
“I’ll be happy to support Caroline at mile 23,” he said.
