Astronaut and Massachusetts native Suni Williams to run 2026 Boston Marathon, receive Patriots’ Award
The Boston Athletic Association announced that Suni Williams, a Needham, Massachusetts native and NASA astronaut, is the 2026 Patriots’ Award recipient and will run the 2026 Boston Marathon.
This marks Williams’ second time running the Boston Marathon, having completed her first while at the International Space Station in 2007. It marked the first time anyone had ever run a marathon in space. She finished the race with a time of 4 hours, 23 minutes, and 46 seconds as she traveled above Earth, according to an NBC News article. Williams, an avid runner, also completed the Falmouth Road Race in 2024 while in space.
Williams told WBZ-TV’s Jacob Wycoff that six months after returning to Earth, she felt “great, running a little slow but still feel perfect.”
The BAA said it chose Williams due to her “spirit of perseverance, service, and curiosity.” The award recognizes a “New England-based individual, group, or organization that is patriotic, philanthropic, and inspirational while fostering goodwill and sportsmanship,” the marathon said on Instagram.
Past recipients of the award include Robert Kraft, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Rick and Dick Hoyt, Tim Wakefield, David Ortiz, Marty Walsh, and Rob Gronkowski, who also served as the race’s Grand Marshal.
In July 2024, Williams and Butch Wilmore traveled to the ISS for a trip originally scheduled to last just over a week. However, due to technical issues that resulted in several delays, the pair ended up staying nine months. They returned to Earth in March of 2025, for a total of 286 days spent in space.
Williams has previously said that she and Wilmore were not surprised they had to stay longer than 8 days, but the “extended stay was just a little bit different,” and it was “a bit of a shock.” She also told Needham High School students in January 2025 that she was “trying to remember what it’s like to walk.”
She holds the record for the second-longest cumulative time spent in space by a NASA astronaut and the most time spent spacewalking as a woman, according to NASA. After 27 years of service, Williams retired in January 2026.
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