 My name is Jeremy France. I am an operations manager for an aerospace manufacturing facility here in Laconia, New Hampshire. Born and raised in Westboro, Massachusetts. Moved up here about nine years ago and just loved living in the woods and being at peace. I spent the first three quarters of my life internally battling with who I was and you know, dealt with crippling fears, doubts and insecurities and I never really knew why. Growing up I was brought up in a wonderful home and in a wonderful area in Massachusetts and you know, had everything that I ever needed. For whatever reason I just was never satisfied. I always needed more and I always needed to look at others and what they had and I spent a lot of time dwelling on the fact that what they had was better than what I had and how they felt was better than how I felt and what they looked like was better than what I looked like. That was mostly internalized. On the outside I looked, you know, as well adjusted as anybody would be. I was, you know, socially accepted, I was outgoing and you know, I never really let on that there was ever an issue and part of me never really knew there was an issue until I got a little bit older into my teenage years and once I started doing things in my teenage years like, you know, going out and partying instead of, you know, concentrating on schoolwork or athletics, things quickly started to escalate, you know, without my permission and, you know, to fast forward a little ways, you know, by the time I was in my 20s things were really spiraling out of control and I started to experience things like depression and anxiety and a level of fear that I had never experienced before and when that occurred, you know, I started to live in pain and for me, you know, it just got to a point where the pain was unbearable and you start to give up and that's an empty feeling that's a scary and dark place to be and, you know, the circumstances that occurred were vast and they were frightening. When you have that feeling of less than and you have that feeling of complete worthlessness, it just seems like there's just no way out and not knowing that there was a solution to what was wrong with me, you know, I just kept falling deeper and deeper and eventually, you know, I had an opportunity that came about just because it came about and, you know, for the first time in my life I was able to out loud speak up and ask for help and that was the hardest thing that I ever had to do because that fear was just too powerful and I didn't want people to know that I needed help and I didn't want people to know that I wasn't able to take care of myself. I was either going to die or I was going to, you know, at least have an ounce of willingness to change and try a different way because I had been trying my own way for so long. I was driving the bus my whole life and every time I got to a fork in the road it seemed that I took the wrong turn and the day I decided to throw the keys away and let somebody else, you know, drive the bus, that was the first day that I felt salvation and, you know, I had an opportunity to move up here to New Hampshire, get the help that I needed and I live a life today that I didn't know existed. I live a life today that I know is limitless. I live a life today that when I do what I'm supposed to do on a daily basis and I make sure that I'm spending time loving outside of myself, knowing others need it more. It's a day of satisfaction and it's a day of fulfillment, you know, for my father to tell me that he's proud of me. It's, you know, that's better than any song I've ever heard on the radio or any landscape that I've ever had an opportunity to photograph. You know, when I started running about a year ago, I was able to tap into a totally new feeling of peace and meditation that, again, I didn't know existed and I'm afforded these opportunities because of what I do on a daily basis to maintain my health, not only mentally but spiritually and physically and, you know, I never set out to be a marathon runner. Folks that are closest to me, you know, they laugh and we joke about, you know, about Forest Gump and how we just started running it but that's the truth of it. I just got up and I started running and the next thing I know I'm running three miles and five miles and then eight miles and then ten miles and a good friend of mine said, hey, you know, I'm running in New York. I'm running for the New York Roadrunners and a charity called the Run for Kids and you have, you know, an opportunity to raise some money for some kids in need and that started just an absolute new way of thinking when it comes to reflecting back on my childhood and how I never really wanted for anything when it came to athletics. I didn't have to worry about where the equipment was coming from. I didn't have to worry about having coaches and trainers that were experienced and, you know, and mentoring young kids and it got me thinking that all these kids out there that just don't have that opportunity and I wanted to be able to be a small part of being able to provide that for them and in the meantime I'm running mile after mile and feeling better and better about myself and why I'm doing it and you get to a point where, you know, your feet aren't even hitting the ground. You're just kind of floating and you're going and, you know, I'm blessed to, for whatever reason, to have, you know, enough endurance to keep that up and keep it going and growing up ten miles from the start line has just been always been, you know, a dream to run Boston and those dreams faded, you know, as my life started to take a turn in a different direction but that spark was still there and I reached out to a couple people that I knew had run Boston before and they got me hooked up with a wonderful woman, Susan Hurley, who then got me in touch with the Pedro Martinez Foundation and that was just blown away just even at the thought of being affiliated with Pedro and his wife's Foundation and what that would mean not only to me but to my network of family and friends and also what I could do, you know, to help that foundation, you know, raise money for kids not only locally but around the world and to represent Pedro Martinez and his wife Carolina it's just a dream come true. Growing up an avid Red Sox fan, you know, my father had season tickets to the Sox. I spent so many days in that park and when Pedro came to the Red Sox, you know, it was it was a godsend and, you know, I looked at Pedro and just admired him for so many different reasons being a guy of smaller stature like myself. I loved his fearlessness and I could relate to it, you know, when I grew up playing sports especially, you know, playing hockey I certainly wasn't the biggest guy on the ice but there wasn't anybody there that I was afraid of and, you know, athletes and men like Pedro Martinez, you know, they just set such an amazing example of not only hard work and training but also knowing the mental aspect of athletics and how he would outthink, you know, the opposing batter and what he would do, what his pitch selection was for each and every opponent that he had. You know, I have so many amazing memories of not only watching Pedro live but also, you know, the run in 2004 was, at that point in my life, one of the greatest experiences, you know, that I've ever had. I bring people upstairs and put on the 2004 Faith Rewarded DVD because there's a scene in that amazing movie where after the World Series is over and their parade was going through the streets of Boston, I was fortunate enough to be in one of the buildings right next to FAO Schwartz in the McGryhill Publishing Building and the camera actually zooms in on me hanging out of the window while Pedro was going by and, you know, the video is grainy but if you look close enough you can see the tears in my eyes and, you know, the amount of pride that that brought to Boston and just all the memories that, you know, it brought up from me being a kid going to the Fenway with my father and, you know, what it did for the city at the time and, you know, you fast forward 15, 16 years and all the championships that we've been able to be a part of is just amazing. Being a part of the Pedro Martinez Foundation for the Marathon just gives me that one more inch of edge, you know, that I'm going to need not only to raise the funds necessary but to get across that finish line and I know that, you know, when things get tough, you know, mile 16, mile 17 and then your mind's playing tricks on you, I'm going to have an opportunity to look down on my jersey and see Pedro Martinez as his name and know that, you know, I just got to dig a little bit deeper and I just got to grind a little bit more. I try not to envision crossing that finish line because I don't want to, I don't want to set expectations that I'm not going to be able to live up to but I just know that, you know, I've been given a gift and to be chosen out of so many folks to represent such an amazing foundation is an absolute blessing and I couldn't think of a Boston icon more fitting to represent than Pedro Martinez.