Famed Red Sox player Pedro Martinez and Boston Marathon runners of all backgrounds teamed up ahead of this year’s race to raise money for programs supporting children in the U.S. and abroad.

“We’re really grateful and thankful for your efforts and for everything you do, and not only for the organization, just like Carolina said,” Martinez said, referencing his wife and addressing to a small group of runners and their families Sunday, “for the kids that really need it. I was one of those kids, and I couldn’t get the resources that you guys are supplying. The reason why I’m standing here is to give everybody else hope. And you are part of it. You are part of the people who are giving others hope.”

Pedro and Carolina Martinez, founders of the charitable Pedro Martinez foundation, and runners representing the organization in Monday’s race gathered for brunch at Raffles Boston in Back Bay ahead of the 129th annual Boston Marathon.

Of the 30,000 runners expected to participate in the world’s oldest marathon, many of all ages and backgrounds are expected to participate in non-profit teams raising money for charities. Through the Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program including 176 non-profits, over $50 million was raised ahead the marathon.

The Pedro Martinez Foundation has sponsored Boston Marathon runners for eight years now, Carolina Martinez said, and this year sponsored eight runners set to complete the historic course Monday.

Funds raised by the runners will go to projects supporting kids in areas in the U.S. like Boston and Lawrence and the Dominican Republic, where Martinez is from originally, through education, health and sports programming.

The former Red Sox pitcher spoke highly of a school building project sponsored by the foundation about to be completed in the Dominican Republic, calling it a “dream come true, because I’m giving back what I never had.”

Boston Marathon runners this year represent all 50 U.S. states and 128 countries, organizers said, with over 18,000 men, 13,000 women, and 76 non-binary entrants.

“This is my tenth marathon,” said 52-year-old Racquel Escobar, a runner representing the foundation with bright purple hair and themed blue and yellow nails, who said she last raced in Tokyo. “Boston is going to be my tenth, because I’ve been running New York — I’m from New York — every year since I started running. I’m late bloomer; I started running six years ago.”

Another foundation runner, Gopal Patel, a 79-year-old New Jersey resident, said he first started training with his daughter and running marathons with the New York marathon in 2018. He’s already planning on running another marathon in Sydney, Australia next August.

“My wife always complained, that you never surprised me, anything as a big surprise, give me big surprise,” said Patel. “And she was never satisfied whatever I was doing, she’d want more and more. And she passed away in 2020. So now, when I get my Six Star Medal, I’m gonna put it on my wife’s photo frame and say, ‘Honey, this is my biggest surprise for you.’”

Patel said his 4 year-old grandson has already run one one-mile race and is planning to take up the running mantel soon enough — though Patel doesn’t intend to stop running soon.

“I never feel like I’m old man,” said Patel. “I never get tired. I just start line. I look at inside, ask my wife to bless me. And then I said, ‘Make sure I cross finish line.’ And when I cross finish line, I said, ‘Thank you, honey.’”

The Boston Marathon will kick off at the Hopkinton starting line with wheelchair athletes at 9:06 a.m. Monday, followed by the first round of professional athletes at 9:37 a.m., para athletes at 9:50 a.m., and other runners starting at 10 a.m.

Pedro Martinez and his wife, Carolina Martinez, president of the Pedro Martinez Foundation, speak to the foundation’s 2025 Boston Marathon runners during a pre-race brunch Sunday. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)
Pedro Martinez crouches down to chat with 4-year-old Nolan Shah of New Jersey. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)