Last year was a typical Marathon Monday for Greenfield native Kate Bitters. 

Bitters — a Greenfield High School graduate who has lived in Boston the last 10 years — did what many in the city do on Patriots’ Day: go cheer on the runners along the course before heading over to Fenway for the morning Red Sox game. 

After the Sox game, she and friends went to Dillon’s on Boylston Street and there, Bitters saw a man walk in with his medal after completing the marathon. That man also had a medallion with the number 100 on it. Curious, Bitters asked him what it was for, and he responded that he finished the 100th marathon of his life.

Bitters began picking his brain. After all, she had been considering running in the Boston Marathon for years and was looking for someone to walk through it all with her. That man, Alberto Colin, became that person for her. 

“Living in Boston and going to the Marathon each year, every time you go it’s something you want to do yourself someday,” Bitters said. “I’ve always been inspired by the people running, especially the charity runners.” 

After that conversation with Colin, Bitters decided she was going to try to run the Boston Marathon the following year. 

If she was going to run however, it was only going to be for one charity. 

Bitters’ father, Paul, passed away in 2017 following a battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He was treated at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston as well as at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, and Bitters said she was always thankful for all the two hospitals did to help her dad. If she was going to run the marathon, she was only going to do it if she could run for a purpose. 

“Last year being there felt different because I kept wondering at what point am I going to do this myself,” Bitters said. “If I was going to do it, the only charity I wanted to run for was Dana-Farber. It’s not easy to get into, I had never done it before and while I was an athlete growing up, running was never my passion. The stars had to align if I was going to run it this year.” 

Bitters stayed in contact with Colin who, while living in California, became her unofficial running coach and sent her workout plans to follow. 

She went for her first run of training the day after the 2024 marathon, and the first race she started with was a 5K in Charlestown. She progressed from there, working her way up to running eight miles, then 10 and so on before she completed a half marathon in November. Bitters noted she enjoyed running whenever she returned to Greenfield, taking advantage of the open space throughout Franklin County. 

“My coach just kept telling me ‘you can’t eat an elephant in one bite,’” Bitters said. “It was crazy to see it dwindle. I started being able to do 10 miles easy, then I was able to run a 16-mile race. I just remember playing field hockey in Greenfield, having to go on the two-mile run at tryouts and thinking it was the worst thing in the world. I laugh now knowing that was nothing compared to this.” 

While she was in the process of training, Bitters kept her plans of running in the 2025 Boston Marathon a secret to those close to her, as she wanted to know for sure she’d be able to run with Dana-Farber before committing. 

She applied in the fall when applications were released, told them the story of her dad and was accepted to run and fundraise for Dana-Farber. 

“Once I finally got [accepted] I told my mom over dinner in Greenfield and told the rest of my family and sister on Thanksgiving,” Bitters said. “It was emotional. It was hard keeping it a secret and I was ready to explode when I finally got the news and could tell them.” 

It was important for Bitters to run for Dana-Farber, which had given her dad chemo while he awaited a bone marrow donor. She wanted to be part of a fundraising mission to attempt to find a cure for the disease. 

“We were lucky to have the time we did with our dad,” Bitters said. “I always feel terrible when I hear about parents and siblings who go through a tragic loss quick. Ten months is quick to some people but the conversations I had with him, the memories I have of him are things I’ll keep forever. 

“Running the marathon was something burning in the back of my head to do as a tribute to him,” Bitters added. “He’d listen to strangers and I find it ironic that it was a stranger who listened to me and encouraged me to come out for the marathon this year.” 

Bitters participated in the marathon not just for her dad, but with the Patient-Partner program at Dana-Farber which teams up a patient with a runner. 

She went into the 129th running of the event last month hoping to break the four-hour mark. She finished the race in 4 hours, 4 minutes, just off her goal, but she knew she had done it for the right purpose as soon as the marathon ended. 

“The moment I crossed the finish line there was a girl standing there volunteering and handing out bananas,” Bitters said. “She saw my singlet and thanked me for running for Dana-Farber. It was a full circle moment.” 

Colon was there at the finish line as well, giving Bitters a medallion with a ‘No. 1’ on it to symbolize her first marathon. 

Bitters personally raised nearly $20,000 with her run, all going to the DFMC team which supports the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber. Those funds are fueling some of today's most promising cancer research in the world. 

As a team, the Dana-Farber runners raised over $7.7 million. 

“The run itself was exciting but it was just a minuscule piece,” Bitters said. “I made a couple stops during the race to see people and hug them. It was so worth it. I ran for a bigger reason than to put up a faster time.”