(Tom Cuddy/WBZ NewsRadio 1030)
HOPKINTON (WBZ-AM) -- There are thousands of runners who leave this historic patch of real estate and head to Boylston Street, and every one of them has a reason.
Visit WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Boston Marathon Page
Several runners told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens why they run.
Colleen Thompson is from Long Island.
"Why do I run? I run because it's my happy place, and I slip into a world and just escape reality for a little while," she said.
She comes to Boston because it's the most prestigious marathon. She ran in 2013, and keeps coming back.
Stephen Forreste of Wellesley said he got into running because his then-girlfriend-now-wife was running to raise money for multiple sclerosis.
"I had been a runner back in high school," he said. "She got me to just run longer and longer and do the training runs with her, and before you knew it, I was sucked in. It's 15 years later, and I'm just sticking with it."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports