Rising to the Topp

Elyse Topp-Poirier did not want to run her fourth consecutive Boston Marathon this year, but as is often the case in life, the 26-year-old Beverly Farms native did not get what she wanted.

Last year, Topp-Poirier’s father was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Suddenly, the woman who alone raised $10,000 for charity to run her first marathon in 2003 and had helped coordinate the raising of an additional $165,000, was called upon to run one more race.

“I didn’t want to do another marathon,” said Topp-Poirier, an energetic young woman with long brown hair and hazel eyes. “It takes up so much time, and your social life is just shot. But I’m sure my dad doesn’t want go through chemo treatments every day.”

After her father was diagnosed, Topp-Poirier got a call from a friend at Massachusetts General Hospital. He asked her if she would run for MGH’s charity this year, and she enthusiastically said yes.

“She’s very willing to take on a challenge,” said Topp-Poirier’s mother, Sylvia, who describes her daughter as extroverted. “She’s interested in helping people. All of her friends are like that.”

If all you knew about Topp-Poirier stopped here, it would make for a pretty good story. But her commitment to running the marathon for cancer this year only scratches the surface of what she has done.

The story actually begins 25 years ago. When she was three-months old, Topp-Poirier was adopted from “The Home for Little Wanderers” in Boston by a family in Beverly Farms. She grew up in Beverly Farms -- her adoptive parents still live there -- attended Miss Porter’s boarding school in Connecticut, and graduated from Union College in New York in 2001.

Armed with a good education and a strong network of family and friends, Topp-Poirier could have looked for her first job almost anywhere. But the first job she took after graduating from Union was as a fundraiser at the same home from which she was adopted. Talk about coming full circle.

Topp-Poirier worked at the home for three years, taking over the coordination of marathon fundraising in her second year. In that role, she chose 40 runners for the charity and planned their benefits. It was an extremely time-consuming job, and one that required Topp-Poirier to spend time with lots of runners, although she was not yet a runner herself. That quickly changed.

“At one point, I just said ‘I want to run too’,” said Topp-Poirier.

That’s when she started training.

“I think her own background and connection to the home played a role,” said Christine Robertson, who worked at the home with Topp-Poirier for three years. “It made her even more passionate about her job and her personal pursuit to run a marathon.”

Topp-Poirier, who describes herself as “the typical fat kid” when she was younger, admits that she has never been a runner. She is accident prone, having amassed over 70 stitches, a lost tooth (the real kind, not the kind you put under your pillow), seven broken or sprained fingers, a broken ankle, and a broken wrist during her life. She said she chose running for its “low margin of error.”

Topp-Poirier’s self-assessment was both tongue-in-cheek and a little revealing. Although she was a figure skater from ages 6 to 13, and played lacrosse and field hockey at Miss Porter’s, she admitted liking the sweeper position in field hockey and first-home position in lacrosse because they both involved limited amounts of running. Still, she has never been one to sit still for very long.

“She’s always been active,” said Sylvia Topp-Poirier. “But she wasn’t focused the way she is now with marathons.”

Topp-Poirier’s focus now involves running three to four times per week for a total of 30 miles, in addition to doing two workouts on the side. But she maintains a modest goal of finishing the race in under four-and-a-half hours, or just over a 10-minute mile pace. She says that reaching a certain time will not make or break her year.

Topp-Poirier does not look like a runner. Standing at about 5-feet-7, she is built less like the prototypical, lanky marathon runner and more like the powerful lacrosse player she was in high school. She also lacks the grizzled, determined look of a marathon runner. Her freckled face reveals an endless smile when she talks, and somehow you just know that she is sincere in everything she says.

Because she is not a runner in the truest sense of the word, Topp-Poirier uses several tactics to keep herself motivated. One of those tactics is training with a group, something that comes naturally to someone who is so extroverted. In her first three years of training, Topp-Poirier coordinated runs for her training group along the actual marathon course, recruiting friends to hand out water and Starburst candy -- they have to be the pink ones -- along the 16-mile training route. Her efforts brought camaraderie to the group.

“Her enthusiasm was contagious,” said Matt Sliwa, who trained with Topp-Poirier for several marathons. “And I think this is what made that team’s experience special. Everyone got excited about something that really was not that much fun.”

Topp-Poirier made it fun by asking her friends to help out. And the candy didn’t hurt, either.

“She’s the epitome of a people person and loves to help her friends,” said Mia Davidner (Topp-Poirier’s roommate for three years), who would often assist in organizing those runs.

While her family has tried to instill generosity in her since the beginning, in the end it is up to Topp-Poirier to follow through with her commitments. To that end, she has set a goal of raising $15,000 for this year’s marathon, which would greatly surpass the required donation amount of $2,500 that is needed to enter the race. Luckily for Topp-Poirier, she has a lot of friends to help foot the bill.

“No matter what, she always makes time for her friends,” said Davidner, who moved to New York last year but still stays in touch with her old roommate and best friend. “She is incredibly outgoing, fun, sincere, and loyal. When she says she is going to call somebody, she does. I don’t know a single person that does not love her.”

The social aspect of training for the marathon should not be overlooked. Runners are a hardy, close-knit group, and Topp-Poirier’s training partners often get together at the bar ‘Crossroads’ in downtown Boston after they finish their training run. At the bar, the group tells stories about running and life in general over mugs of water or beer and mounds of pizza. They share a strong connection.

“They’re genuinely great people,” said Topp-Poirier of her running partners. “I’m addicted to the whole thing now.”

That coming from a woman who used to hate running in high school and college.

“It’s nice to push yourself,” said Topp-Poirier. “As I got older I shifted from having to be motivated by others to being motivated myself.”

Topp-Poirier, who now works in the marketing department of Stride Rite, a manufacturer of athletic apparel, is also a motivation to her friends and family.

“Elyse’s enthusiasm is contagious,” said Robertson. “She makes people want to support her with donations, and she makes people want to run alongside her.”

Sliwa was one of those people.

“The fact that she was adopted from the home was not even known by me until many months of working together,” said Sliwa, who helped Topp-Poirier coordinate the home’s fundraising efforts. “That’s one of the things that attracted my own philanthropy to the organization.”

The race itself is contagious in that way. Last year, the Boston Marathon raised more than $8 million for local charities. While many people run as a form of competition, the charity aspect of the race has increased dramatically in prominence over the years. And it all starts on the level of the individual.

“I know it’s cheesy, but I really do think of those things when I run,” said Topp-Poirier, who describes the event as a boon for the city of Boston. “I remind myself that although 26.2 miles is really hard, it doesn't compare to the struggle that a lot of people who have terminal illnesses or no homes and families go through every day. This year, I will think of that in context of my dad.”

While the Boston Marathon supports 18 charities this year, the only charity that matters to Topp-Poirier is the one for which she is running. While she will run with a heavy heart, it means a lot to her to be able to give something back in the fight against cancer. It also means a lot to her family.

“It means a tremendous amount that she wasn’t going to run again until her dad got sick, and that she decided to run this year because of him,” said Sylvia Topp-Poirier.

On the outside, Elyse Topp-Poirier will be just another marathon runner when she crosses the starting line in Hopkinton on April 17. But every runner has a story, and while hers may be more poignant than others, you would never know that by the way she conducts herself. It’s enough for Topp-Poirier to help people. She doesn’t necessarily care who knows it.

“Some people are driven by money, others by fame.” said Sliwa. “I think Elyse is truly driven by giving back to others. Elyse is a reason that people give to charity. It isn’t in response to a generic mailing; it’s in response to a story. Elyse puts life into the charitable story and that is why I and so many others support her.”