FILE PHOTO
St. John’s Prep assistant athletic director Jordan Edgett, left, a Lynn native and Peabody resident, will run Monday’s Boston Marathon as part of the Gronk Nation Team. He’s pictured here with Rob Gronkoswki and Jon Fraser, Edgett’s Bowdoin College baseball teammate.
By ANNE MARIE TOBIN
Peabody resident Jordan Edgett is finally ready to take his first steps of many in what he hopes will be about a four-hour tour. On Monday, Edgett, a 2008 graduate of St. John’s Prep, won’t be at his usual desk tending to his administrative duties as assistant to St. John’s Prep athletic director Jim O’Leary. Instead, he will taking the day off to run as a member of Gronk Nation Team Boston 2017 in the 121st Boston Marathon, raising money for New England Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski’s Gronk Nation Youth Foundation.
Edgett’s journey technically begins on Monday in Hopkinton where he’ll be known as runner 29865, but really his journey began 11 months ago.
“As a former college athlete, I have always enjoyed running as part of training and since graduating, I have been running more and more,” said Edgett. “I have always been a very competitive person, so this has kind of filled in that gap since I stopped playing baseball. I decided in the winter of 2015-16 to sign up for a half marathon and ran the Boston Run to Remember last May and had a blast. I realized then that being able to complete 26.2 was a realistic possibility.”
Last fall, he applied to several charities and was accepted by Gronk Nation Youth Foundation.
He started his official training in December and has been been running four to five days a week, averaging approximately 40 miles per week. Weekday runs consist of a variety of hills, tempo runs, interval training and even cross training. His longest runs are Saturday mornings with a slow recovery run on Sundays.
“I basically combined a program that my charity gave me with one I found online that best fit my schedule as well as my physical incapabilities,” he joked. “My longest run was Saturday, March 25, which was 22 miles and I am now tapering. We got bused out to the start in Hopkinton for the (that) run — it was really cool to run the remaining part of the course that I hadn’t run before.”
For Edgett, it’s all about helping those less fortunate than he to pursue his lifelong passion — sports.
“My whole life has been about sports. I am who I am today because of sports and I am lucky to be making a career out of it,” said Edgett, a 2012 graduate of Bowdoin College, where he played baseball. “The Gronk Nation Youth Foundation is dedicated to inspiring and supporting our youth to reach their maximum potential by empowering them to be positively involved in sports, community activities, education, and fitness. The money raised for this foundation will go straight towards disadvantaged youth sports programs. I am honored to be raising money for a charity that means so much to me.”
As of Monday, Edgett had already exceeded his fundraising goal of $7,500, with pledges totalling more that $7,700. Making a donation is easy; simply go to Edgett’s fundraising page, www.crowdrise.com/gronknationboston2017/fundraiser/jordanedgett, and click the donate button.
The Gronk Nation Youth Foundation is a 501(c)(3) based in Albany, N.Y. Its is dedicated to inspiring and supporting youth to reach their maximum potential by empowering them to be positively involved in sports, community activities, education, and fitness. Its mission is to help youths stay actively involved in school and sports and provide them with the tools needed to help them follow their dreams and live a happy and more successful life. The purpose of the Foundation is to contribute financial resources to selected nonprofit organizations that effectively serve and benefit children with an emphasis on health, education and fitness.
Edgett grew up in Lynn and attended the Our Lady of Assumption School in Lynnfield before moving on to The Prep, where he played basketball and baseball. He served as a baseball team captain his senior year, earning team Most Valuable Player and Agganis all-star honors.
His college career began with a bang at Bowdoin, starting 17 of 22 games for the Polar Bears and posting a .404 batting average. After a sophomore slump in which he started 17 of 23 games and batted only .246, he rebounded junior year, starting 34 of 34 games played and finishing with an average of .293. He tied for the team lead in triples (2) and was second best in doubles with 15. As a senior, Edgett started 38 games, helping to lead the Polar Bears (26-20) to finish the season with the second-most wins in school history, a runner-up finish in the NESCAC Tournament, the team’s second-ever NCAA Division III Tournament berth and the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, a 6-4 win over Southern Maine. Edgett had a monster game, going 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. He finished the season with a .271 batting average and a team-high 11 doubles.
The 27-year-old son of Alan and Diane Edgett of Lynn, Edgett is the grandson of Lynn philanthropists David and Mary Jane Solimine, where he will prepare for Monday’s run with his family celebrating Easter.
Edgett said the best part of his marathon experience has been the social component.
“Throughout the last four months there have been many events (meetings, fundraisers, workouts, etc) for the 26 team charities. They cover everything from training to nutrition to taking care of your body,” Edgett said. “For the long runs on Saturday mornings, 75-100 of us meet at the Under Armour on Boylston Street to run the course. We also meet on Tuesday nights for hill workouts on the course in Newton. I have met some amazing people and have made lots of friends through these experiences. It’s made training a blast.”
