VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend is a half-century St. Paddy’s Day tradition.
The weekend was packed with the marathon, half marathon, 8K, and challenges from March 15-17, 2024.
This marks the 52nd running of the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon in the resort city of Virginia Beach.
Devanie Shaw and her husband Jon traveled from Northern Virginia to run the marathon, after training daily for months. On Sunday, the couple’s three little ones, “the proud support squad” were seen giving their parents a high five.
A sea of family members and friends lined Atlantic Avenue to cheer on the runners, including the family of Jessi Pinello Allen and Lucas Allen.
Allen is an Oscar Smith High School teacher and varsity girls’ soccer coach, is running to raise awareness for cystic fibrosis.
“Lucas was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was 17-months-old. We never thought he would be running a marathon at 26,” said his mom, Kim Allen. “We would [participate] in the cystic fibrosis walks. As he got older, he was like ‘you know mom, I love to run. I’m going to do this!”
This is Allen’s second full marathon. He and his wife train year-round.
“When you see the hard work that goes in every week, they are spending hours and hours training … to see it come to fruition it makes you very proud,” said Dr. Kim Pinello.
The couple will continue to train for the New York City marathon in November 2024. Allen was invited to run on behalf of the cystic fibrosis foundation.
He will continue to share his journey to the finish line on Instagram at @cf_fearless.
“His Instagram is for other kids, like him, with cystic fibrosis that may feel out of place, and nobody [can] to relate to. That’s why he does what he’s doing. Getting it out there for other kids. He is communicating with kids around the world with cystic fibrosis.”
Learn more about the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at https://give.cff.org/.