Marathons as therapy

Jessica Pollock overcomes two strokes

By Jennifer Toland TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF jtoland@telegram.com

WORCESTER— Mile 14 begins the steepest climb of the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, and at mile 15, Jessica Pollock’s legs, body, mind were feeling the grueling gradient.

“I hit the wall,” Pollock said. “I was looking for any reason at all to give up.”

But during that race two years ago, Pollock, a Worcester resident and Clark University graduate, remembered an offhand comment an acquaintance had made to her before the race, something about there being “a few of us who think you can’t do it.”


Can’t do it.

Those words stung, but the more she thought about them, the more they pushed Pollock through the toughest part of the course and to the finish line. She completed her first marathon in 5 hours, 53 minutes.

Mile 15? In her life Pollock has faced — and conquered — much higher obstacles. NEXT..............