For Melrose Woman, 15th Marathon a Sister Act

According to the official Boston Marathon website, 40 Melrosians have registered to run in the 2011 Boston Marathon. For the days leading up to the marathon, we will feature our Melrose marathoners and encourage you to cheer each of them to the finish line!

Name: Jen Rapaport

Age: 47

Marathon Experience: This will be the 15th marathon for Rapaport, and her third straight year running the Boston Marathon. Rapaport is a member of the Somerville Road Runners running club, and was among the area's fastest female runners last year running the race in 3 hours, 19 minutes.

Reason for Running: Rapaport's sister, who lives in Hamilton, MA, will be running Boston for the first time, and a 26.2 mile marathon-length race for just the second time. "I'm not racing it," Rapaport said of her Boston Marathon plans. "I'm going to run my sister's first Boston Marathon with her." Originally slated to begin the race in the first wave of runners, Rapaport said she will drop back and run with her sister, and be shooting for a finishing time of 3:40.  Rapaport submitted her best ever time in the 2002 Chicago Marathon, running in at 2 hours, 47 minutes and qualified for Boston 2011 with a 3:15 time in the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany.

Training Tips: The veteran harrier offered the following when asked for race preparation tips: "Don't over taper. A lot of people kind of lounge around the last two weeks and don't do that much. I think you lose fitness that way. Don't over taper."