FROM BOSTON COLLEGE PRESS RELEASE
After the Boston College baseball team had settled in to their hotel near Clemson, S.C., back in March, the Eagles boarded the bus for practice, but assistant coach Greg Sullivan was not present. He had left much earlier, planning on meeting the team at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
While the Eagles drove to the facility, Sullivan ran the 15 miles.
Sullivan wasn’t just trying to get a workout in; he was finding a way to work in his training for the 2016 Boston Marathon during a busy collegiate baseball season that takes the Eagles across the country and back.
Running in support of The Frates ALS Research and Support Fund, Sullivan has tackled the gargantuan task of training for his first-ever marathon without a formal training group or overall organization to help him prepare for the 26.2 mile run on Monday, April 18.
Instead, this is Sullivan’s personal quest for Pete Frates, the Eagles’ director of baseball operations, whose battle against ALS has been well-documented – locally, nationally and internationally.
“I was very fortunate that the BAA (Boston Athletic Association) was on board and very supportive of this,” Sullivan said. “Pete is such a large part of the Boston community that as soon as you bring his name up everyone wants to do what they can to help. So when I approached the BAA about it, they jumped on board. It was a no-brainer. But I don’t officially have a training team, so that has certainly been hard.”
What has helped Sullivan get through the last few months has been the support and guidance from the Boston College Athletics – and greater Boston College – community.
Fortunately for Sullivan, as a staff member at one of the premier athletics departments in the Northeast, he’s had ample access to guidance, direction and support from colleagues just down the hall.
“It has been good to be able to bounce some things off people here,” Sullivan said. “(Men’s cross country and track and field assistant coach) Tim Ritchie has been a resource. RT (Women’s cross country and track and field head coach Randy Thomas) and (men’s cross country and track and field head coach) Matt Kerr and those guys have been awesome to bounce those questions off of. Like, ‘Hey, what does this mean?’ or ‘What do you think of this?’ in passing. It’s another coach here saying, ‘Hey I’ll go out on a run with you today,’ or ‘What do you have on tap today?
“I’ve tried to bounce things off other people around here who have gone through it. Erik Johnson from women’s basketball has some run marathons and he’s been great to get advice from,” Sullivan said.
As a former baseball player and now current coach, distance running wasn’t one of Sullivan’s traditional training staples. But with the journey from Hopkinton to Copley Square ahead, he’s become accustomed to the longer runs.
“A personal long for me?” Sullivan said. “I’d done some 5Ks and things like that, but no more than five, six miles. So it was a daunting task to look at it. I was talking with (head softball coach) Ashley Obrest and she asked me how far I was going and casually said eight to 10 miles.
“And it’s so funny how as you get into it, how numb you get to it. That’s a long ways and you casually brush it off sometimes,” he said.
So whether it’s been a 15-mile run to practice in Clemson, S.C., a trail run in Arizona or some runs through the Florida countryside, Sullivan has worked his custom training program into his every day, which is also the every day of the Eagles’ 34 student-athletes and coaching and support staff.
“There are some weeks we’re traveling a lot and it takes a toll on my body so I have to listen to it,” he said. “But it’s been fun and I’ve had a ton of support from the players, a ton of support from everybody around the program. Everyone has gotten wind that I’m doing this so they’ve gotten on board with me and they’ve helped me stay accountable to my training. Everybody on the staff – from Mike (Gambino) to Eric Crest, our athletic trainer and our strength coach Ryan (Sullivan) – has been keeping an eye on me and making sure I’m staying disciplined and on the course.
“But again, it’s been one of those things that’ve tried to make it a focus of this not impacting the team. If I push too hard or get hurt, our players and our program could suffer and that’s not something I want either. So I’ve been cautious about that,” Sullivan said.
With the goal to raise more awareness for Pete Frates’ plight and battle – and the need for more research to find a cure for ALS – Sullivan has relied on the support from Pete, his wife Julie and the entire Frates family as he’s set on his journey.
“They’ve all reached out. I’ve been fortunate enough that they’ve welcomed me into their family, their Frate Train group. So I’m humbled and grateful for that. So when I proposed the idea to them, they thought it was a great idea and have been very supportive,” Sullivan said.
“Pete was, and still is, hard-working and very determined individual. To him, this is great. I’m sure this certainly was on a bucket list for Pete – to run a marathon – seeing how much he loves this city and BC and how it’s in the fabric of Boston and this school. I’m sure he would’ve loved a chance to do this, and God bless, someday he might.”
In response, he’s asked people who want to make donations to Pete’s charity to do so in a figure that ends in “3,” to represent the jersey Pete wore while an outfielder and captain at Boston College:
“So if someone asks me, I say if you were going to make a $50 donation, to make a $53.33 donation to recognize how important BC was and is to Pete.”
So for the next 10 days, you may find Sullivan running around the Boston College campus as he winds down his training ahead of Marathon Monday. And that’s perfectly fitting to him and this journey.
“Everyone here at BC has been great,” he said. “It’s part of what makes this place so special. Everybody is excited and takes a personal interest in what you’re doing, whether it be your sport or your personal goals and endeavors.
“This is everybody’s race; it isn’t just mine. And that was one of the things that made it so special. Not only is this for Pete, but I get to share this with everyone here at Boston College when I get to Mile 21. And get that mile with them and let everyone share it with me. So I’m excited about that,” he said.
