Boston Marathon + Team Rising Hearts
Hello Community!
Let’s celebrate these amazing humans! Our community runners, who ran in the Boston Marathon! They have helped promote Rising Hearts and some of them have helped fundraise for the heart work we are grateful to keep doing. This year, Team Rising Hearts has 4 runners we are supporting at the 130th Boston Marathon - Mel Devoney, Ashleigh Thompson, Caroline Sekaquaptewa, and Jordan Whetstone (AND potentially 2 more runners). This team has a fundraising goal of $7,000 for Rising Hearts to keep supporting the heart work.
We have a handful of runners who have helped fundraise for us! No matter large or small, that financial support has it’s place to be and support in the heart work we do!
Funds towards:
+ Running On Native Lands Initiative
+ Running With Purpose Athlete Advocates (38 runners)
+ RH Charity Runner’s (37 runners)
+ Rising Hearts Stories | Filmmaking (4 films, plus new project)
+ Virtual Movement Events | Race Organizing (48 and counting since June 2020)
+ Consulting - DEI / Collab opportunities / Facilitating Connections
Special Incentives:
+ With every $100 donation, you get a new Rising Hearts shirt and other smaller goodies.
+ With every $250 donation, you get a coffee mug, Rising Hearts shirt, and other smaller goodies.
Learn a bit more about our runners, read their run reflections and support them as they make their way to that Boylston finish line!
- Rising Hearts
‘26 BOSTON RUNNERS
Sacred Strides of Indigenous Running: Honoring the Past, Running for our Future
When: Friday, April 17, 2026 at 12pm EST
Who: Panelists: Carissa Genelle, Kristen Wyman, Thawn Harris, and Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Whetstone
Moderator: Larry Spotted Crow Mann, Executive Director of the Ohketea Cultural Center
Saturday April 18, 2026 (Tentative):
+ Team Shakeout Run
+ Cheer on the Wings of America Youth in the BAA 5k
+ BIB Pick Up
Indigenous Presence at the Boston Marathon
Indigenous Peoples from all over were able to hold space at the @bostonmarathon Expo for the Indigenous Runners Panel last year, moderated by Abby Burgess (Mi’kmaq), Ben Burgess (Mi’kmaq), Verna Volker (Diné) of Native Women Run, Larry Spotted Crow Mann (Nipmuc) of Ohketeau Cultural Center, Patti Dillon (Mi’kmaq), Wings of America Board and runner up at the Boston Marathon 1979-1981, and Jordan Whetstone (Lakota) of Rising Hearts!
Not only were they all able to share in their experiences of running and community, they were each able to speak to all or some parts of the heart work they all do. The history and legacy of Indigenous running and presence at the Boston Marathon, has been woven into the miles with the lands from start to finish.
Indigenous Legacy Runners:
Tom Longboat (Onondaga), Boston Marathon’s first Indigenous Champion in 1907 (runner up in 1901). Now, his great-grandson, Kristian Jamieson will be running in his footsteps on Marathon Monday!
Tarzan Brown (Narragansett), 2 time winner of the Boston Marathon in 1936 and 1939. He ran the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Heartbreak Hill was named because of Brown’s effort to break Kelley’s heart on the course to continue on to win the marathon!
Andrew Sockalexis (Penobscot), ran the marathon at the 1912 Sweden Olympics. Finished runner up in 1912-1913 at the Boston Marathon. - their legacy of Indigenous running and our presence at the Boston Marathon!
Patti Dillon (Mi’kmaq), we mentioned her before on the Panel. She has held the world record and American road records. She was considered one of the most dominating American female runners of the 1970’s. And runner up at the Boston Marathon 1979-1981! Going from never running and smoking, to dominating running, she has inspired many Indigenous runners! And continues to coach the next generations.
What an honor to share space with all these inspiring voices and looking forward to more programming with the BAA. Being able to have the space created for us, to bring our voices, prayers, song and a round dance, further shows the community we want to see and bring! We can’t wait for more in the years to come!
2025 Rising Hearts Meet + Greet RECAP
Last year, we collaborated with our friends at On, to hold space for community. Here’s our reflections from last year and we will share more of what we may be up to as we are still planning for 2026.
”What. A. Morning! Wow. It was an incredible honor to hold space, all thanks to On, for creating the space for us, to bring community together.
We were able to have Rising Hearts, Wings of America, Redhawk Singers, Indigenous Peoples Day of Newton and North American Indian Center of Boston present, along with many runners, friends and community who joined us! Earlier that morning, Indigenous youth, part of the Boston Pursuit Program of Wings of America, ran in the BAA 5k! The youth chosen, were announced on March 31st. What an experience for them to have, the chaperones, Sky and Hosava, along with Wings staff, Dustin and Mariah!
We began the morning with a land blessing, led by Larry Spotted Crow Mann (Nipmuc), of Ohketeau Cultural Center. Blessed everyone there, including the runners! Then we moved back inside, and honored two amazing humans, doing inspiring heart work for the community. Rising Hearts honored Dustin Martin (Diné) of Wings of America and Daryl ‘Stretch’ Murphy (RH Athlete Advocate) with a starquilt and pendleton.
We continued with community in getting to know each other, catch up, meet for the first time, learn from the organizations that tabling, and beautiful songs by the Redhawk Singers! New connections made, exciting ideas already being talked about, and we are excited to help continue the conversations and do what we can to create the spaces for us to be in and thrive in!
Redhawk Singers
We are so grateful for the Redhawk Singers joining us that morning! The drum is the heartbeat of our Nations and communities. To have them center within our event, just brought more meaning and purpose. We look forward to more opportunities like this to come.”
RUNNING FORWARD
Ashleigh Thompson | Rising Hearts Charity Runner and Athlete
We are less than a month from the Boston Marathon, and I’m feeling excited to run in my first World Marathon Majors race. So far, my training is going well. My body feels healthy, and my fitness has increased. One of my favorite workouts for marathon training is a long run with race-pace intervals incorporated. This workout has shown me I’m on track to reach my goal time in Boston. One thing I’m nervous about is the hills in Boston, so my coach has incorporated hill workouts into my training. Fingers crossed that my heart doesn’t get broken at Heart Break Hill. Lastly, I am loving the longer, warmer spring days lately–it makes getting out the door to train feel easier!
Race: 2026 Boston Marathon | April
TEAM FUNDRAISING GOAL: $7,000
FUNDS RAISED: $891
Melina Devoney | RH Athlete Advocate and Charity Runner
As we get closer to Marathon Monday, it feels even more surreal that I get to race Boston with Rising Hearts. It'll be an experience of a lifetime to run a course where so many Indigenous runners made history...and to race alongside one of them as my teammate!
I'm ready to push myself really hard because I know that running with purpose and being cheered on by my parents & friends will help me through the *pain cave.
Race: 2026 Boston Marathon | April
TEAM FUNDRAISING GOAL: $7,000
FUNDS RAISED: $891
Jordan Whetstone | RH Founder, Athlete Advocate and Charity Runner
I’m coming back for my 5th Boston Marathon, my 4th Boston running in prayer for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Peoples, and back for community. With each opportunity to visit, connect, and create, community gatherings and opportunities to see people you admire from social media, just fills your heart and looking forward to Team Rising Hearts having this experience together.
For me, I run in prayer for missing and murdered loved ones like Emily Pike ad Cole Brings Plenty, for their families, for our communities, for our younger and next generations, and holding space for other issues, like protecting our trans kin, immigrant communities, and for the genocide that is continuously happening in Gaza. It’s a privilege to be able to run, to be able to create these spaces with community, to participate, and to just live right now during times that are very scary, uncertain, and triggering for many.
So much has happened since the 2019 Boston Marathon, in bringing MMIWP to that race and platform, wearing the red handprint, and the names and prayers I carried, my life changed. And I can’t imagine running being any different now than by using it as a means to build community, discuss things that need to be included, hold space for those that can’t be here, and still enjoy running. Running for Justice, still continues. Now more than ever is to continue supporting the heart work that is making impacts and using our voices and bodies to help communicate what is important.
I want to give back in a big way to Rising Hearts, since it’s not just giving back to just Rising Hearts, it’s the opportunity to give back to all we do, and who we support. We have an incredible team of friends, sisters and runners at the Boston Marathon this year - Mel, Ashleigh, and Caroline, who are also my fellow teammates at the 2025 Every Woman’s Marathon, all looking to cross that finish line in Boston! Help us reach our goal of raising $7,000 for Rising Hearts. Rising Hearts is bringing more and more incredible humans to the start line, events, stories, and platforms, and that’s the world we want to invest in to keep our communities healthy, thriving, diverse and reflective of us, so that we see ourselves in these spaces. Let’s keep creating community and seeing the faces and hearing the voices we want to see and learn from!
Race: 2026 Boston Marathon | April
TEAM FUNDRAISING GOAL: $7,000
FUNDS RAISED: $891
Caroline Sekaquaptewa | RH Athlete Advocate and Charity Runner
We are less than a month away from the Boston Marathon. I have been working hard chipping away at the miles. This year I began a new journey with a new coach, someone I met while running a race with Rising Hearts! Susie has provided great guidance on this training cycle, and I am happy to know my weekly feedback is taken into consideration for the next weeks of miles.
It has been a few months of ups and downs. Unfortunately I was sick for about 3 weeks on and off, and that impacted my mileage increase. Over the years I have learned that all the obstacles during training make the marathon finish even more special and meaningful. I am also excited to meet up with the Rising Hearts team again and create more memories.
The Boston Marathon always has represented what I thought was an unattainable goal. This race represents what a Rez girl like me can do with a strong mind and strong body. My hope is to inspire other Rez kids to dream big and chase their goals, and to own their spot in any race!
Race: 2026 Boston Marathon | April
TEAM FUNDRAISING GOAL: $7,000
FUNDS RAISED: $891
Indigenous Runners at Boston
My name is Angelita Ts'inaabaah Jim. Born and raised in Flagstaff, AZ. My clans are Ojibwe people nishłi, Dibé łizhini bashishchiin, Naakai Diné’é dashicheii, Tódích’íí’nii dashinalí, Ákòt’èego Dinè asdzààn nishłi.
I will be running under the Joe Andruzzi Foundation (JAF)—an incredible organization that provides financial relief to cancer patients and their families. JAF helps ease the burden of everyday expenses such as transportation, household costs, and medical care, allowing families to focus on what truly matters: fighting cancer.
Training comes with many challenges. It's a constant wave of changes with trial an error. You are learning your body and mind. So, my first challenge was learning how to fuel for my body. As, this isn't it "one fits all."
Once I locked in my fuel then came listening to my body and learning when it's time to push harder and when I need to schedule cool down runs, tempo runs and just easy runs. Earlier this year my knee started to give me issues by mile 3. Mentality it took a toll on me as we were 4 months out at that time. So, tapping into allowing my body to heal while staying consistent. Checking on myself mentality every day and giving myself grace and space to grow as athlete in a healthy way. There is a lot of that goes into training but I'm very privilege to be able to train for the Boston Marathon. And happy to say my knee is powering through beautifully.
As we get closer for the big day. If I'm being honest, I do not feel like one hundred percent ready. But I believe that's a natural feeling. I always feel like I could prepare more and train more. But I have to trust in the training and in myself. So, for now I'm just hitting my miles and sticking to my training blocks and focus on more of mind.
What I'm most excited about Boston is the experience. To be able to feel the amazing energy of the supporters. It's a full circle for me to do this as adult. I've been running my whole life; I was in cross country in middle school and High School. My mom is a single mother of three, so she missed out on a lot of my meets. But my sister Xo always ensures to fill in those shoes for me. So, to have them both be there years later is healing to me. I also will have all my friends and my other older sister Dezi, who never seen me run come out to support is something I'm so excited to share.
To be able to run in the Boston Marathon is very deep rooted for me. I'm able to hold space and to hold presentation for people. Specially, during a time where our people are being separated. Anytime I stepped outside to train, I was putting myself in harm's way and even now with traveling at the airports has become a concern for a lot of runners. So, to be able to be privileged enough to run on the biggest Marathon stage is honor. I'm the very product of my community and I can't to show that on race day.
Link to donate to the charity: Donate | Running for Hope: Support the Joe Andruzzi Foundation
or type in "Angelrunsboston.com"
RUN WITH PURPOSE
For 2025, we met our goal and raised $36,000 and 37 charity runners! Here’s a chance to support our heart work through a different means - running, movement, events for Rising Hearts! We hope to find 13 MORE runners for 2026!
2026 RACES ARE OPEN!
OPTION ONE:
WANT TO RACE FOR RISING HEARTS OUTSIDE OF THESE WE HAVE SELECTED?
Not seeing a race you want to run in this list? Check out all of the Wander Project events and choose the “Your Choice” option. They will reach out to learn more about your charity of choice and once you let them know that you’ll be running for Rising Hearts, they will make sure your funds come to support our mission!”
Athletes who want to support Rising Hearts for a race that is not listed, can sign up for any of the events on The Wander Project calendar: https://www.wanderproject.org/event-partners/ and pick 'Your Choice' for charity and then fill out the form to indicate they want to support Rising Hearts: (FAQ page here: https://www.wanderproject.org/athletes/frequently-asked-questions/)
OPTION TWO:
This is more new for us! We have a givelively link specifically for runners/individuals, who want to raise funds for the heart work we do! If it’s not through our partnership with The Wander Project, or our other partners at CIM or Boston, you can run for Rising Hearts at any race you choose and bring more fun and purpose to your why and the run.
Suggested fundraising limits:
RH Athletes / Community = $600
Open to Community = minimum $800
Perks: RH Singlet, merch, stickers, fuel, reimbursement of your race (on case by case basis) and if shoes are needed, we can help you!
Reach out to us via email, info@rising-hearts.org. Share with us your plans, then we’ll set you up with the link!