Boston Marathon Profile: Dan Paquet

COVENTRY, RI — Coventry has four residents running in this year's Boston Marathon. Coventry Patch highlights those runners in the next few weeks.Today, we meet Dan Paquet, who is 24. Good luck, Dan!

Paquet ran his first Boston Marathon in 2015, and it was an experience he found "incredible." Used to training alone, he'd had "no idea" what running would feel like when "surrounded by 30,000 participants," he said.

"You have a companion the whole way," he said, and he found it inspiring to run alongside at least four or five other marathoners.

Reason for running: "Every year, something different lights the fire. I was sitting in a college classroom (at Rhode Island College) in 2013," he said, and he saw the bombings on television. Part of his motivation comes from "going back and taking part in the atmosphere in the years following the bombings" and seeing the marathon go on. He's running to help keep the Boston Marathon tradition alive, and he also wants to honor his family traditions. "Running always been in my family. My father, uncle and great-uncle were runners but not marathoners.

"I have a cousin and uncle who reside in West Warwick and are runners. My cousin John Paquet III is close in age to me and just last year ran his first marathon. His father (my uncle, John Paquet Jr.) and my Dad are brothers and runners."

Dan Paquet and his family at the Boston Marathon finish line the day before the 2016 race. From left, his father Eric, sister Meghan, Paquet and his mother, Daryl, "all runners (though my mother has retired from running)."

Marathon experience: "This is my third Boston Marathon. I qualified in 2014 and ran my first in 2015." He was a runner at Coventry High.

"I ran Cross Country (5k races) and Outdoor Track (3k races) for four years at Coventry High School. My Cross Country Coaches had the biggest impact on my running; the boy's Coach was Christopher Warner, and the girl's (coach) was Michaela Thompson-Driscoll. (She has run the Boston Marathon). They both have been great resources and inspirations."

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Training tip: "Everyone who's ever trained in New England knows it can be grueling" in winter. But the conditions "come with the territory. You deal with the elements." He had experience running half marathons before he tried Boston, so he basically just doubled his regimen. For the half-marathons, he trained running 40 miles a week, so for the Boston Marathon, he's been running 80 miles a week.

Courtesy Photo Caption: Dan Paquet, in white tee, running in the Boston Marathon

Are you running the Boston Marathon? We'd love to feature you, too. Email margo.sullivan@patch.com.

Charlene Arsenault (Patch Staff) contributed to this report.