VIDEO: Boston Marathon Runner Delivers Inspiring Speech Prior to Start of Stoughton Road Race

Prior to the start of the 5 School 5K road race, held April 27 at the Stoughton YMCA, Bobby O'Donnell III, son of Stoughton Fire Department Captain Bob O'Donnell, addressed the crowd of runners and spectators, delivering an inspirational speech before the field of nearly 200 participants was set to begin the 3.1-mile course. 

O'Donnell, 19, a 2012 graduate of Oliver Ames, and a freshman at St. Anslem College, was one of many runners stopped short of finishing the Boston Marathon on April 15 of this year due to the terrorist bombings. 

He compared running a race with meeting everyday goals. 

"It's your achievement of getting to the start line today because races are a metaphor for life and starting anything is the hardest part," O'Donnell said. "But once you take that first step forward if you want something bad enough you'll keep moving and you'll push forward and if you can picture yourself achieving that goal you'll absolutely get there."

O'Donnell was just a half-mile shy of the finish line when he was stopped, but he said in his heart he knew he finished. 

"When training for the marathon, three weeks out, I was struggling through many injuries and a good friend of mine told me a story about his first Boston Marathon," O'Donnell said.

"He got to the 25th mile mark and his legs gave out, his body couldn't handle it and he didn't think he'd make it, and a stranger came up behind him and he said, 'You got this far with your legs, you'll finish it with your heart.' So believe in yourself and believe you can do it. You'll get that goal and you'll finish that race - your personal race, whatever it is."

"So I was stopped a half-mile short of finishing the Boston Marathon this year, but in my heart I finished it and I'll be back next year to finish the race," O'Donnell continued. "So whatever your race in life is, believe that you'll finish it and you will."

O'Donnell, a student leader while he was at OA, helping run the peer mentoring program and serving as a captain of two sports teams, is an EMT and is studying to be a physician assistant at St. Anslem. 

The 5 School 5K to benefit the Stoughton Schools was held just 12 days after the marathon bombings.