The contrast of exhaustion and invigoration, bleakness and encouragement, and uncertainty and resolve is remarkable.
The sights and sounds of Heartbreak Hill.
It certainly stuck with Tewksbury native Brittany Torro.
As a military police officer in the National Guard, Torro was stationed at the famous slope that tests the willpower of eager Boston Marathon runners each April.
“Just watching the runners at that point just be at such a physical and mental low and then just run into their loved one’s arms and they got a boost and they kept running, I was like, ‘Wow. This is amazing,’ ” said Torro, who was also a student at Boston University’s ROTC program.
But Torro’s boost won’t originate from the supportive crowd at the landmark. It’s been with her every mile since she began training for the 130th edition of the historic race set to kick off on Monday.
Torro is running for The James Gang, an organization committed to inclusion opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities. Founded in 2017 in honor of James Anderson, 2026 marks the third consecutive year as an official charity program of the Boston Marathon.
Anderson was diagnosed with an extremely rare gene disorder, NARS1, which affects fewer than 100 people worldwide. Torro was introduced to Anderson in 2024, and they have developed a very close bond. Torro has raised over $8,500 for the organization and is elated to support her friend at Monday’s race. She is one of five runners representing The James Gang in Boston.
“He is a part of my family,” said Torro, 23. “So running it for him and raising money for him, it truly gives me wings. If I don’t feel like running or I don’t feel like doing it today, I think of him.”
Monday will mark Torro’s first time running a marathon. She has completed two Tough Rucks — a 26.2-mile trek with a 45-pound military pack — in support of military and first responders, but will enter uncharted territory at the starting line in Hopkinton.
But the 2025 Boston University graduate has many memories — including her experience on duty at the event — watching the marathon. She enjoyed the festivities as a spectator in her final two years at the Boston school.
“I’ve seen it from all perspectives, but I’ve never run it,” Torro said. “So I’m super, super honored to finally be able to experience the marathon from all these different perspectives. Each way I’ve experienced it, it’s amazing in its own way.”
Torro was recently commissioned as a second lieutenant intelligence officer. On the civilian side, she works with children and adults with a variety of special needs as an ADA therapist and is working on her master’s degree to become a board certified behavioral analyst (BCBA).
She graduated from Shawsheen Tech in 2021, which is where her military journey began when a recruiter came to the Billerica school.
“He told me that if I give him 10 weeks, he will put me in the best physical and mental shape of my life, and he’ll pay me to do it. And that just kind of shifted me,” Torro said.
The summer entering her senior year, she spent three months at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for basic training at age 17. She received the Minuteman Scholarship to attend Boston University at no cost, where she joined the ROTC.
When Torro isn’t on duty, she enjoys fitness and living a healthy lifestyle.
“You have a lot of control over your civilian lifestyle,” Torro said. “I think for me, my drive to stay in shape, and run and lift weights and things like that, it comes from the military.”
But it’s her work with The James Gang — and her relationship with members of those in the community with intellectual disabilities — that drives her every day.
“That community just shows me how lucky I am,” Torro said. “How lucky we are to have full control of our bodies. I truly think that’s a gift, and I don’t want to waste that.”
Who’s to say where Torro’s emotions will be when she reaches the infamous hill on Commonwealth Avenue in Newton. But right now, she is nothing but grateful.
“I get so emotional talking about it because I do feel so lucky,” Torro said. “It takes a village to raise as much money as I did, and it takes a village to just do everything that I do. I couldn’t be more grateful. My close friends and my family are just as excited as I am. It’s like the only thing we’re talking about in my house.”
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