Man runs marathon distance for fundraiser

NAHANT – He was stopped a mile before the finish line last year.He couldn’t get a number for this year’s Boston Marathon.And although not as large as the throngs in Copley Square, a crowd of friends and family gathered in Nahant to cheer as Vova Aleksanyan completed a 26.2-mile run on Monday to raise money for a local resident with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).”Knowing you guys were going to be here, it helped a lot,” an exhausted Aleksanyan, 25, said after crossing the finish line on Nahant Road at about 1 p.m. Monday.Aleksanyan is probably most familiar to Nahanters as a clerk at Seaside Variety, where he has worked for eight years. It is there where Aleksanyan said he first met a daughter of local resident Earl Hanson. Hanson was diagnosed with ALS in 1994, and the community holds an annual softball tournament to benefit the Hanson family.Aleksanyan played baseball at Lynn English, so he can help the Hanson family with his bat and glove. But Aleksanyan said his high school coach also emphasized regular running workouts, and Aleksanyan said he has continued to challenge his athletic ability through running. But Aleksanyan hasn’t had the best of luck with marathons. He started with Boston in 2012, running as a “bandit,” one of a group of unofficial runners allowed to run the course after all the entrants have started. But it was more than 80 degrees out two years ago, and Aleksanyan seemed reluctant to reveal his 5:16:19 time. He tried to run the New York City Marathon that fall, but Hurricane Sandy interfered. Aleksanyan made it within a mile of the finish line when the bombs exploded at last year’s Boston Marathon.”It was frustrating; you train for months for one goal,” he said.But organizers did not allow bandits at this year’s Boston Marathon, and Aleksanyan said he was too late to get a number.”I had some customers try to get me a number, but it didn’t work out,” Aleksanyan said. “So I decided to do my own thing.”Aleksanyan left Monday at 9 a.m. from Short Beach and ran along Nahant Beach to downtown Marblehead. He turned around at the information booth and headed to downtown Salem, passing the Commons and then heading back to Vinnin Square. He returned to Marblehead to cut from Tedesco Street to Humphrey Street, which he followed back to Lynn Shore Drive and across the causeway into Nahant. A meandering loop around Bass Point and through Nahant returned him to Short Beach where he crossed the crosswalk by the softball field in 3:56:08. He had raised more than $3,200 as of Sunday.”Tired,” Aleksanyan answered when a friend asked how he felt. “I need a foot massage, anyone?”Alex Wilson didn’t offer that. But she had Power Bars, water and plans to get her friend a lot of ham.”You’ve got to support Vova; he does everything for everyone and he would be here for us,” Wilson said.Aleksanyan said doing a marathon alone and on his own route had benefits and challenges. He said Sunday that he was nervous because spectators provide motivation for runners. Race workers also provide benefits: water, energy bars, monitoring and, if necessary, medical help. And although friends were waiting with water and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches at various points throughout the route, Aleksanyan had to carry his phone to let them know his progress. But Aleksanyan also said having no water breaks probably saved him a half hour on his time.And while there was no Heartbreak Hill, Aleksanyan said there was a nasty headwind on the Nahant Causeway.But he was walking, joking and talking at the finish line, and he had plans for a post-race recuperation/celebration.”I have to be at the store in three hours,” he joked. Then he divulged the real plan. “Icing, a shower, then we’re going to the Knights of Columbus.”