Lynn’s Ferguson set to fulfill a Marathon dream

It is one of the country’s best-known sporting events, drawing hundreds of thousands of diehard runners and some of the world’s best marathoners to the streets of the towns surrounding Boston every April.For a select few, the Boston Marathon is a chance to flash their talents in front of a humongous crowd and compete for a serious amount of prize money. But for most people who toe the line in Hopkinton, the Marathon is something that they have always wanted to try or do for a special cause or reason.One of those people who will be on the line at Hopkinton Green on Monday is Lynn’s Ryan Ferguson.If the name sounds familiar to local sports fans, it should. Ferguson was a standout player for coach Matt Poska at Lynn English, graduating in 1998. He then went on to play Division 1 college hockey at Quinnipiac, helping build a program that now is a contender in the ECAC.Like most people growing up around the Boston area, Ferguson was drawn to watching the Marathon at an early age and the love of it grew from there.”The Marathon is just something that I’ve always wanted to do, I don’t know why,” Ferguson said. “I’ve been there and watched it plenty of times and I guess I just wanted to try it.”Like most athletes who look for a new challenge when their competitive careers are over, Ferguson found his in running.He began with small runs and eventually moved into participating in the Lynn Woods road races every Wednesday and became hooked on running.”I started with the three-milers and like most people got hooked with the running bug,” Ferguson said. “I’ve done the Lynn Woods runs every Wednesday and kind of fell into the half-marathoning.”Ferguson has run the Lowell half-marathon and traveled to Las Vegas in December to participate in a half-marathon there.The 30-year old Lynn resident still skates twice a week in a hockey league to keep his fitness level up. He will be running as a part of Team Brigham out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.It’s that group that Ferguson credits with getting him fully prepared for the 26.2-mile jaunt from Hopkinton to Boston.”They have mapped it all out for us and as long as you follow the schedule they set, you will be OK,” Ferguson said. “Brigham’s has an excellent staff. They give you everything from what to eat to how to dress for the day.”Ferguson set a goal of raising $3,500 for the charity and he exceeded that by raising nearly $3,700 through donations from family and friends.”I definitely couldn’t do it without the donations,” Ferguson said. “I was definitely surprised at the amount people donated. I didn’t expect that much and everyone came through.”Many of the people who donated money will be along the route on Monday in lime-green T-shirts to give Ferguson support.”I want to go right now. I can’t wait,” Ferguson said. “One-tenth of one percent of Americans have run the Boston Marathon and it’s nice that I’m getting a chance to do it. I just want to cross that finish line.”