By Julie Fay
Contributing Writer

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“I made it a quarter of the way up,” he says, adding that he’s returning to Everest for another go this fall. He’ll be prepared for the frigid conditions in the Himalayas in October, but he’s hoping spring-like weather will prevail in Boston on race day.
“I’m sick of running in the cold weather,” he says. “We’ve been running in the snow since November.”
Leann Laneau
Thirty-year-old Leann Laneau, a supervisor in the cardiac ultrasound department at Atrius Health in Kenmore Square, owes both her running and her career to her father.
“My dad had a heart attack when I was in seventh grade,” she says, adding that she accompanied him on his road to recovery. “He used to speed walk, and I had to run to keep up with him.”
Four years later, her father had another heart attack, and she and her mother saved his life by performing CPR. Her father’s cardiac problems led to her decision to make her career in cardiac health.
“It really is why I am where I am today,” she says.
This will be Laneau’s seventh consecutive Boston Marathon, and she admits she actively searches for familiar faces toward the end of the race.
“My husband and best friend always stand at mile 25. My goal is to (finish the race and) walk back to Kenmore Square and join them for a beer,” she says.
Regina Tsanotelis
Regina Tsanotelis ran her first Boston Marathon as a “bandit,” or unofficial runner. It was 1992, and her three children were ages 2, 4 and 6.
“I ran for sanity,” she says.
With her children now in their teens and twenties, Tsanotelis is still running. The radiation oncology nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital characterizes her marathon training as “the minimum” because of the demands of her job and family. But each January she cranks up the intensity, adding miles to her long runs. She also does speedwork once a week, running several 800-meter sprints at the Milton Academy track. She says that workout is just as mental as physical.
“I hate it,” she says. “It’s dreadful. But the marathon ends up being such a mental event the last four or five miles, and speedwork even once a week is helpful for endurance.”
A runner since she received a pair of running shoes as a gift in her teens, the 50-year old has a three-tiered goal for this year’s race.
“I would like to beat last year’s time (3:53) even if it’s by a few seconds. Or I’d like to come in sometime under four hours. Or to at least qualify again with 4:05,” she laughs.
Josh Nemzer
Josh Nemzer will be too busy on race day to take part with the other runners. As course coordinator, he’ll spend the day making sure the event runs smoothly. But in the late afternoon, long after the other runners have claimed their medals, he’ll take his place at the starting line in Hopkinton. He says this “night shift” race is simply about getting from point A to point B.
“Honestly, I just want to run well and comfortably,” says Nemzer, whose friend, race director Dave McGillivray, will run with him. “After breaking down the expo [at the Hynes Convention Center] the night before, I just want to be able to say I’ve got the wherewithal to get from Hopkinton to Boston.”
Nemzer, who runs several marathons and ultra-marathons a year, has worked in road race management for more than 25 years. His Boston Marathon responsibilities include organizing the aid and fluid stations; working with medical personnel; and coordinating the public safety agencies of the towns and cities along the course.
And although he’ll do his best to make sure the marathon is a good experience for the 25,000 runners who will participate, he can only hope for his ideal running conditions on race day: “Upper 40s, lower 50s, clear or slightly cloudy,” he says, “and a tailwind.”