Submitted by Farrah Garibaldi, Eversource.
BERLIN, Conn. (October 10, 2019) — If you asked Evelyn Robinson a year ago if she would be running the 2019 Eversource Hartford Marathon, she would have laughed and answered with a firm “no.” She never pictured herself a long-distance runner or thought she could run a marathon. That slowly started to change after setting out on a mission to get healthy. She accomplished her first half-marathon in 2018 – and really started believing in herself. Since then she’s lost 54 pounds and has finished five half marathons, one 10-mile race, three 5ks, and even a triathlon in July. On the morning of Oct. 12, Robinson will be taking on 26.2 miles of pavement to conquer her first-ever marathon. 
“At first I was feeling like I can’t do this – I can’t possibly run that far, and people were telling me I couldn’t either, which then motivated me even more,” said Robinson. “As I trained and started accomplishing more and more it became empowering for me. It’s no one else’s legs but your own. It’s no one else’s mind but your own. It comes down to you and only you.
Over the summer Robinson trained hard. She ran seven miles on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays and saved Saturdays for longer runs, closer to 15 miles. Sweat and a lot of tears went into every practice.
“I was so emotional the first day I ran 21 miles, which was my longest run ever,” said Robinson. “It was exhausting. I even thought about quitting and not doing the marathon anymore, but I knew I had to push on.”
Thousands of other runners from across the country and beyond will be joining Robinson for the Eversource Hartford Marathon. Close to 300 Eversource employees will be running and more than 100 will be volunteering that day – handing out water on the course, awarding medals at the finish line, and cheering on the runners along the way.
This is the sixth year Eversource is sponsoring the Hartford Marathon and will be empowering runners again on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. as the races kick off near Bushnell Park in Hartford.
