Hub residents star in PBS’ ‘Marathon Challenge’

Victoria Cheng

When Xenia Johnson and Carol Brayboy started training for the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon, they could not run a one-mile course without stopping for breath.
“I never thought I could run a marathon. Never,” Brayboy said. “Even running six or seven miles. You just can’t imagine being able to do that. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, what did I sign up for?’”

Johnson, a 40-year-old pediatric psychiatrist who lives in Dorchester, and Brayboy, a 45-year old school administrator who lives in Roxbury, are two of the stars of the new PBS NOVA series documentary, “Marathon Challenge.” The show recruited, trained and followed 13 novice runners through a nine-month regimen in preparation for the 111th Boston Marathon last April.

As novices, few participants had any experience running long distances; in fact, Johnson says she applied for the show because “they said they were looking for people who had never run a marathon before and who were basically sedentary, and that description fit me to a T.”

Brayboy submitted her application “literally at the last minute of the last day,” in part because she nurtures fond memories of watching the marathon as a child.

“My mom always took us. That was when there were no barriers and you could give the elite runners water and really be a part of it,” she recalled.

Johnson and Brayboy describe the marathon experience as life-changing, but both runners suffered injuries during their nine-month training program that instigated severe doubts about whether they should be running at all.

After Johnson sprained her ankle in early August, she rehashed a litany of misgivings: “I was doing something wrong. I was too old. I started too late. I was right to be sitting on the couch all that time.”

Brayboy suffered hip and knee problems that prevented her from training for six weeks in December and January. The frigid winter weather made matters worse.

“It was dark and cold and I wouldn’t feel like going for a run at 5 in the morning,” Brayboy said.

The show’s training schedule prescribed five days of exercise every week, starting with short, 15-minute walking sessions in July 2006 and moving into hour-long runs at least four times a week by January.

Both runners agree that the schedule was socially demanding as well.

“By the end, it got to being seven-and-a-half mile runs on Wednesday mornings, and on weekends, it would take up to four hours,” Johnson said. “You had to get up two hours ahead of a run to eat, have time afterwards to recover … It consumed the whole day.”

In an attempt to multi-task her runs and her hair appointments, Johnson tried to convince her hairdresser to take up running with her.

“That didn’t really work,” she admitted with a laugh, adding that her hairdresser came for a run just once.

The Sunday runs also coincided with church services.

“It was a struggle because I attend Bethel African Methodist Episcopal, and missing church on Sunday was not easy,” Brayboy said. “I’d fly over to Bethel after the run and get the sermon, but then after just go home and crash.”

Still, Brayboy says it was her faith that gave her the strength to keep running.

“It was such a physical and emotional challenge, but the run wasn’t about me,” she said. “It was about my spiritual growth.”

During one memorable training session, she and a fellow teammate ran up a torturous hill while praying aloud.

“There was a Muslim sister on my team, and she was praying in Arabic in her tradition while I was praying, too,” she said. “It was such a powerful moment because it was such a struggle for both of us and that prayer brought us to the top of the hill.”

Johnson’s three children also provided crucial moral support, especially on race day, when they tracked her progress on a laptop in her car and drove to meet her at different points throughout the race.

“At the ninth mile, I saw my family and just started crying,” she said. “My oldest daughter, Ayanna, said, ‘Mom, you can’t keep crying every time you see us or you’ll never make it!’”

Inspired by her mother’s experience, Ayanna started running recently as well, and the mother-daughter team are contemplating running the marathon together next year.

Johnson’s example has also motivated others to take up running.

Recently, as Johnson ran a circuit between Field’s Corner and Ashmont, a teenage girl she had never met before who was “out on her step talking with her friends” suddenly jumped up and ran next to her for a mile.

Her friends have yet to catch the running bug, but Johnson says she’s working on it.

“I have friends who say, ‘Okay, Xenia, now the show’s done, you can come back. Can we start seeing you again now?’”

Her response: ‘Well, we can go for a run!’”