Melissa Lister will run her first marathon on Monday, April 15, which just happens to be the Boston Marathon. She’ll be one of more than 22,000 participants competing in the event that’s been held for 128 years. 

Lister is running to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in honor of her father who passed away from lung cancer in 2015. An immigrant from Turkey, he never smoked but inhaled secondhand smoke for years while he was waiting tables. 

“He had trouble breathing for so long and he didn’t tell anybody,” Lister said. “I can overcome obstacles in a race, like struggling to breathe, and keeping my heart rate down. I try to imagine people like my dad, who couldn’t express what they’re feeling and how they feel. So that’s the real reason for running and now doing this for charity.”

The 41-year-old’s goal is to raise $15,000 with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Lister played soccer in high school but hated running. Later, when she saw celebrities racing in the New York Marathon she was inspired to give road running a shot. In 2008, she started doing half marathons and never looked back. 

“There was just something really fun about pushing yourself and about just seeing how far you can go mentally and physically.”

Lister moved to Boston in 2011 and competed in the Boston 5K, 10K and half marathon several times. She also raced the New York Half Marathon and got into Spartan racing after her father passed away. Nationally and world-ranked in her age group, Lister competed in the obstacle course racing world championships in 2017 and 2018. She averaged 15 Spartan races each year when she lived on the East Coast.

When Lister first started dating the man who would become her husband, they traveled to Utah for a vacation and she fell in love with the state. They moved to Logan in 2019 and then moved to Daybreak in the summer of 2022. She works as an assistant principal at Alta High School in Sandy. 

Once she moved to Utah, she got involved with mountain bike racing and trail running. But last year, she started doing road races again when she decided to run the Deseret News 10K.

“I thought, maybe I should get back into road racing, because it’s actually pretty fun,” she said. “And that’s when I decided to run the Boston Marathon for charity. It’s funny because I was in Boston for eight years, and I never thought to run the Boston Marathon. And now I move across the country and I’m like, let me just give this a go. It’s my first marathon ever.”

She’s stuck to a rigorous training schedule, increasing her mileage each week to prepare for the event. She said it’s fun to see her body is still okay with road racing after not doing those types of events for 10 years. To support Lister’s charitable goal, visit rundfmc.org and search for Melissa Lister. 

“I’m just super excited for the energy at the marathon,” she said. “If you’ve ever watched it on TV, you see the crowd and everybody who’s along the road. It’s really what makes the difference between the Boston Marathon and like, the Ogden marathon, right? Like they’re both huge accomplishments. But the crowd is the biggest piece of it.”  λ