LYNN — Marine Corps veteran Joel Pimentel has completed three marathons in his lifetime. On Monday, April 17, he will be running his fourth, and first Boston Marathon, for his family.
Pimentel’s brother passed away after a battle with leukemia, and his mother and sister are both cancer survivors. With the impact that cancer has had on his family, Pimentel said it was a “no brainer” when he decided to run for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
“It’s going to definitely be a special day for myself, my family, and friends who have supported me with raising so much money for this charity,” he said.
Pimentel spent four years in the Marine Corps, where he said he picked up running. After being deployed to Iraq, he began dealing with issues related to his deployment. To help alleviate the stress, he started running.
“I picked up running just to cope with those problems and after I got out of the military, I continued to run,” Pimentel said.
Soon, it became much more than a hobby and stress reliever for Pimentel. As he progressed in his training, he began signing up for road races, starting at 5ks, then 10ks and half-marathons. Five years later, he has completed the Marine Corps Marathon twice and the BayState Marathon, and is now ready to take on Boston on Patriots’ Day. His passion for running, Pimentel said, comes from getting hooked on the atmosphere surrounding the road races.
“I started running on my own and I started to pick up road races. From then, I started to fall in love with the atmosphere, not only just running but the social aspect,” he said.
Though this is his first Boston Marathon, it’s not the first time that the race has inspired him. When the marathon bombings happened in 2013, Pimentel was preparing to enter the Marine Corps.
“I remember I was getting ready to graduate about that time,” he said. “When that happened, I was already enlisted and getting ready to go off to the Marine Corps. That whole incident just kind of gave me a little more motivation to serve.”
Whether it’s enlisting in the Armed Forces, or running to help fight cancer, Pimentel’s passion for serving others is what continues to drive him.
He has raised over $7,500 dollars for Dana-Farber so far and is closing in on his goal of $10,000. He said that raising that money was possible due to the support that he had from the Lynn community as well as his friends and family.
“I definitely want to give a huge shoutout and gratitude towards all my friends and family who have supported me throughout this journey and this marathon,” he said. “It just goes to show how close-knit Lynn is as a community.”
Pimentel is hoping to break three hours and 30 minutes on the course and says that he is excited to experience the atmosphere of the marathon for the first time.
