Patriots' Berj Najarian Running Boston Marathon For New Nonprofit Focused On Highlighting Culture
BOSTON (CBS) -- The New England Patriots have one of their top members of the organization running the Boston Marathon this year. Berj Najarian is running for a brand new cause that is near and dear to his heart.
"The foundation is called Who We Are, a nonprofit that I started toward the end of 2021 that's all about helping culture thrive," Najarian told WBZ-TV. "That's across the board: language, food, music, art, architecture, so that's all part of the type of culture that we want to help thrive. I know it from my own background, but Who We Are is about doing that for all different cultures."
Najarian is Belichick's director of football/head coach administration. He is always on the run but remains in touch with his Armenian culture.
"For generations, for centuries, people come to this country, not always by choice but just out of survival. What's so impressive is not only do people survive physically, but their cultures survive," said Najarian.
This won't be Najarian's first Boston Marathon, he ran back in 2014. He finished that race in over four hours.
This time he has a new goal though. "If I finish and that first number is a three, I will be ecstatic," Najarian said.
His music will help him through the 26.2 miles. "The list is like 58 songs. I hope I don't need them because it's about four hours and 30 minutes. I hope I don't need them all."
Najarian lives on the Marathon route near mile 15.5. "It's a great thing to be so close to the route because that's all I run is the route," he said. "There's not a step between Natick and Boston College that I'm not familiar with. I leave my house, I can go one of two ways, I can go west, it's flat. If I go east, it's hilly. So I can get it either way."
Donations to the Who We Are foundation "will go to a child keeping his or her language alive in them or if their interest is in music or an artist, things like that. That's what we are doing," said Najarian.
You can watch live coverage of the 126th Boston Marathon on WBZ-TV and CBS Boston.com on Monday, April 18, 2022.