Beliveau decided to race in late August after discovering information about the Strides Against MS Marathon Team posted on the Internet by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The 28-year-old Brown graduate student typically takes to the roads around the East Side, clad in old gym clothes and using a lucky watch to time herself.
She has been running for recreation since graduating from high school and even entered a few six-mile races, but Beliveau has not raced at all since about the time she got her undergraduate degree.
That is until Nov. 2, when she runs the New York City Marathon.
Beliveau has not seen the marathon route yet, shrugging off the question. "Ignorance is bliss," she says. However, her reason for entering is far from modest, and she is steadfast in her belief that she will finish.
She is racing to raise money for research and services to benefit people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a crippling disease of the central nervous system that wears away the sufferer's control over his or her body. She is racing for her father, Dr. Edward Dick, and her future sister-in-law Dawn Dejager.
"I'll have it in me to finish," said Beliveau. "It's worth it to me. It's important for me to do it. If I have to crawl over the finish line ..."
A smile crosses her face and she adds, "I won't be crawling."
Beliveau decided to race in late August after discovering information about the "Strides Against MS Marathon Team" posted on the Internet by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
At the time, she was researching MS because she wanted to check her knowledge on the disease. Beliveau had read an obituary worded as though the individual had died of MS. She wanted confirmation that the disease is not fatal - it isn't.
The symptoms vary among patients, ranging from numbness to paralysis and blindness. Beliveau's father was diagnosed with MS when she was just a toddler. He now walks with a cane, sometimes experiences numbness in his hands, and gets fatigued easily.
When she saw the posting for the marathon team, Beliveau acted on impulse and signed on even before talking to anyone about it.
Later she told her father. "I think he was really happy. But he has always tried to downplay his MS - he is slightly nervous being the reason that I'm taking it on," said Beliveau.
She is not the only member of the Strides Against MS Marathon Team who has personal reasons for running. At least one of the 30 team members has MS, and has completed the race on crutches several times.
Last year, the team raised more than $100,000 for research and services to benefit people with MS. This year its goal is $125,000. Beliveau set her own goal at $5,000.
The marathon has given Beliveau an immediate goal to work toward. As a graduate student of comparative literature, she is working long term on her dissertation, but that project does not always provide day-to-day satisfaction.
"It is really nice to have a tangible goal," said Beliveau. "As a graduate student you don't see the outcome of your efforts for years." And, in a practical sense, striding along the local byways liberates her from the computer keyboard, she said.
Since signing up last August to race, Beliveau has been training. She runs seven to ten miles almost every weekday; longer stretches on the weekends. To prepare herself for the 26-mile race, Beliveau bought some running magazines with tips on marathons, but says they often contain conflicting information. She'll stick with information from those who have done it.
"Someone told me that if I were able to run three hours, I'd have it in me to finish," said Beliveau. On the last Saturday in September, she ran 19 miles in three hours.
Finishing the New York City Marathon running, and in less than four hours, is her goal.
Beliveau's fiancé will be there to cheer her on. Chad Galts, editorial and technical associate for the Brown Alumni Magazine, will be waiting for her at the 18-mile mark, which is where Beliveau anticipates she may hit "the wall."
Galts is confident that she will finish. "Her motivation isn't so much about running the marathon as it is for her dad and my sister," he said.
For more information send e-mail to Beliveau. Donations can be sent to Sara D. Beliveau, Department of Comparative Literature, Box E. - Kristen Lans