Lynn pair race in Marathon to redesign recess for school kids

LYNN – A week from today, two Lynn residents hope to have accomplished a physical feat they never thought possible while helping to bring more physical activity to thousands of children’s lives.Tom Bishop and Jessica Long will be running the Boston Marathon for Playworks, a national charity that helps structure recess in low-income schools, including in the greater Boston area.Runners typically qualify for the famous 26.2-mile race by posting qualifying times in previous marathons, but April 16 will be Bishop’s and Long’s first-ever marathon.That’s because Playworks chose the two Lynn residents to run the race as part of a 15-person team made up of people across the country, said Jonathan Gay, the development manager for Playworks in metro Boston.Gay is also the coach for Playworks’ marathon team. He said Bishop and Long have logged dozens of training miles through 17-degree weather and dark mornings while working full time jobs and raising more than $4,000 each for Playworks.”We recruited 15 committed runners, people who believe in what Playworks does,” he said in a phone interview.Standing in Red Rock Park on Lynn Shore Drive Saturday, Long said the experience has changed her life.”You can accomplish sometimes the impossible,” she said.Long works for Playworks in a Roxbury school, where she facilitates recess by organizing games for the children and quells bullying or fights.Gay said people like Long help create a safe place for children to play which, in turn, allows them to focus better in school.”We’re looking at recess as that untapped opportunity in the school day to really teach kids emotional and social skills,” he said.Bishop is a father of two young children who said he believes in Playworks’ mission to keep kids healthy.But he said running a marathon for the charity has also dramatically improved his health – the 40-year-old has lost 30 pounds training.”I’ve become that person who is at his desk at 7:30 and said, ?Yeah I did a 10K this morning,'” he said. “I would have smacked myself two years ago.”Both Bishop and Long said running in the Boston Marathon transcends physical wellness. For Long, the experience mirrors her journey to medical school, to which she is re-applying this spring after not making the cut several years ago.”Running the marathon is like – when you train for it – it’s like anything in life,” she said. “If you really want it, you have to work really hard, you have to stay focused and you have to see it to fruition.”Long said she also uses the experience to motivate the children she works with.”I never thought I’d be able to run 26.2 miles, so don’t tell me you can’t finish your math homework,” she said she tells her students. “Don’t tell me you can’t be anything you want to be, because you can. You might have to work really hard but you can do it.”Tears came to Bishop’s eyes when he talked about the lessons he hopes his children, 3 and 4 years old, will glean from his experience.”I tell them, ?Put everything you have into it. You’ll get to the end and have nothing left, then you know you’ve done it,'” he said.And that’s exactly what Bishop and Long plan to do April 16.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].