Emily Sapienza: Running the 2025 NYC Marathon for Muddy and Finding a New Team in Project Purple

For Emily Sapienza, the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon represents a new chapter: one where her lifelong dedication to athletics and her deep love for her late grandmother, Kingsley Brooks, affectionately known as “Muddy,” come together. What began as a chance meeting at her office in Boston has become an opportunity to honor her grandmother’s memory and run for a cause that has now touched her life forever.

If you would like to support Emily’s run in honor of Muddy, click here to donate to her fundraising page.

A Life Shaped by Soccer and Family

Though she now lives in Boston, Emily is a Southern girl at heart, having been raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a child, she was all about soccer. “I wanted to be the next Carli Lloyd,” she says, laughing. Her love for the game took off early, and that love continued into adulthood. By her freshman year of high school, she had verbally committed to play Division I soccer at Rutgers University.

Her family has always been her foundation. During her later high school years, her parents sold her childhood home in Raleigh and moved into Grandma Muddy’s house in Charleston, South Carolina. The Carolinas remained the center of her world even as she left home for college.

After two years at Rutgers, Emily realized that she wanted a more holistic experience that went beyond the field. She entered the transfer portal and enrolled in Boston College, a decision she now calls “the best I ever made.” Competing in the ACC at BC meant she played a lot of Southern teams, often traveling down to her home region, giving her the chance to play close to family. “My mom came to every single game, my dad came to as many as he could, and my grandmother came to watch a lot of games,” Emily says. As many of her relatives still lived down South, those games were extra special to her.

Thanks to COVID, Emily was granted an extra year of playing eligibility at BC, allowing her to earn her Master’s in Sports Administration in 2024. That graduate year helped her figure out who she was outside of soccer and what she wanted to do next. She combined her passion for athletics and work aspirations into her career, landing a job with New Balance’s Team Sports Department in January of this year.

Losing Muddy

Just a month into her new role at New Balance, Emily’s world changed. In late February, Muddy passed away after a very short and private battle with pancreatic cancer.

“She hid it from us,” Emily explains, sharing that she only knew her grandmother was sick for four days before she died, but she understood her wishes. “I don’t resent her for that at all. I think her thought process was, ‘I’m fine.’ That was her saying.”

When Emily learned of the diagnosis, her grandmother was already in the hospital. Ready to hop on the next flight out of Boston, she was gently told by her mom to stay back.

Emily still remembers their last FaceTime call vividly: “Her eyes lit up, and she was talking to me like she was just sitting on a couch. She told me, ‘I’m comfortable. I feel normal, I feel fine.’ But then I would get a text message the next day saying that she wasn’t doing very well.”

One of Emily’s favorite traditions with Muddy was stopping for Chick-fil-A milkshakes. “We had one last one together, and I never knew it was going to be our last,” she says. “That last experience getting that milkshake is something I’ll totally cherish forever, and now I always make sure to get one for her around the holidays.”

That sense of closeness is also tied to place. “Especially because my home in Charleston was her home first,” Emily says, “when I go back now, it feels like she’s supposed to be there.”

In the weeks after Muddy’s passing, Emily found herself going on long, unplanned runs, part of that post-soccer phase where she still wanted to push herself physically. And those miles slowly became an outlet for everything she was feeling.

By March, she signed up for a half marathon on Cape Cod, a place that felt like home. Her family had recently purchased a cottage located right along the race course, which made the race even more special.

“I thought I was going to be so tired after the half,” Emily recalls. “But when I finished and I turned to my friend and said, ‘Do you want to keep running?’” That moment showed her that running was becoming more than just exercise; it was quickly turning into a source of strength and healing.

And, even though Muddy is no longer physically with her, Emily feels her presence everywhere—in memories, in traditions, and also in the little signs that seem to show up right when she needs them most.

A Serendipitous Meeting in Purple

Just three weeks after losing her grandmother, Emily’s life took a crazy turn. A coworker was hosting an account in the office when “this man walked in, and he was wearing all purple,” Emily recounts. “My grandmother’s favorite NFL team was the Baltimore Ravens, so I was automatically drawn to this man. I was like, ‘What’s going on? I love the purple!’ I just thought of my grandmother right then and there.”

She had the feeling to walk over and introduce herself to “this purple man.” So, she did, and she quickly found out that it was Project Purple’s founder/CEO, Dino Verrelli. He explained what the organization does, and when he mentioned the pancreatic cancer aspect, Emily was floored, feeling an immediate connection. “I was like, ‘What the heck is going on?!’ Like, how crazy is that? I got choked up. It was so surreal, that moment.”

After work, she called her mom and said, “I just saw Muddy. This guy in all purple just walked into the office.”

Emily told Dino that running a marathon had always been in the back of her mind, especially after her years at Boston College, where the Boston Marathon is such a huge part of the culture. In the months since graduation, she had been trying to figure out what life after soccer would look like, searching for a new way to challenge herself. 

“I just said to him, ‘I hope you can keep me in mind for any future marathons,’” she recalls. “I was still trying to figure out what I liked—do I want to bike, do I want to swim?—but so far I’ve really liked running.” She left that conversation feeling like something bigger was at work.

But the way she got that bib for the NYC Marathon was even more surreal. Months later, on May 22nd, which so happened to be Muddy’s heavenly birthday, Emily received a text from her coworker: “Hey, Dino just texted me saying they have one spot left for the NYC Marathon. Do you want it?”

Her answer was immediate: “Are you kidding me? Absolutely.”

The next morning, she spoke with Project Purple’s Program Director, Vin, got a training plan, and went for a run right after. “I probably ran the fastest I ever have,” she laughs.

Emily’s Miles, Muddy’s Legacy

For Emily, running the NYC Marathon is about much more than 26.2 miles. It’s a way to channel everything her grandmother stood for: simplicity, joy, and unconditional support.

Emily and Muddy were “complete opposites” when it came to their passions, especially in sports, but in the best possible way. Muddy was deeply musical and theatrical—she sang, performed in plays, and even wrote for productions—while Emily was all about soccer. 

Still, Muddy wasn’t exactly a stranger to athletics; she was a talented golfer, and from what Emily remembers, a great athlete overall. Her ringtone was even the Monday Night Football jingle. Muddy truly had both the athletic and theatrical genes—a woman of many talents. While she might not have understood the finer points of soccer or the ACC, she made every effort to support Emily’s journey. 

“She really didn’t get the details of the sport,” Emily says, “but she tried so hard to be there for me. She’d send me texts or voicemails before games like, ‘I don’t know who you’re playing, but go get ‘em! I’m sure they’re not that good,’ meanwhile, it was the national champions. Then she’d add, ‘But I know you’re good, so you’re gonna be fine.’”

Looking back, Emily realizes how much that simple, unwavering support meant. “I tend to get caught up in overthinking and taking things for granted,” she admits. “But she tried to understand something so complex in her own way. Her simple perspective helped me see the sport differently and appreciate it more.”

When asked what her favorite thing about Muddy was, Emily’s answer was that simple angle she took to life. Muddy was a tour guide in Charleston and loved what she loved—her family, her city, her music, her Ravens, and always making Emily cinnamon rolls, even in the midst of her deep soccer training. “She really simplified life, and people overthink it,” Emily says. “She didn’t.”

Now, every run feels like a conversation with Muddy. “The other day I had a really hard run, and all I wanted to do was tell Muddy about it,” Emily candidly shares. “But it makes me happy to know that I completed this run not only for myself, but for something bigger. It brings me so much peace knowing that she’s not hurting anymore, and I get to hurt for her. I’ll take that.”

From Soccer Fields to Shared Strides

Leaving behind the close-knit world of collegiate soccer was a big change for Emily. After years of being in the D1 sports world and sharing that team experience, she felt herself longing for a similar sense of community. Joining Project Purple gave her a new kind of team, one built not just around sport, but around shared passion and purpose.

“It’s so nice to have a new community with Project Purple,” Emily shares. “Being in this new transition era of my life, not being surrounded by 27 other girls playing the same sport, it’s really inspiring to run alongside people who have a similar story or interest in running.”

She loves the supportive atmosphere of the Project Purple NYC Marathon group, where she compares runs, shares stories, and feels connected to her fellow runners. “It’s awesome to have a new community as a recent graduate,” Emily says. “I have a great team at work as well as a community of people I can relate to on a deeper, emotional level.” She’d like to give a big shout-out to her team at work for their support!

Emily also feels a special kind of pride in the interconnectedness of it all. Working at New Balance and running in New Balance gear while representing Project Purple, as the company makes the organization’s race bibs and singlets, brings everything full circle. “It’s so cool that I get to work at New Balance, see the work behind the scenes, and then also wear their gear in the race,” she says. 

Her coworker is the one who places the order for the singlets, and Emily shares that “I don’t think a week goes by that I don’t ask to see the designs.” She says that when race day comes, she is going to be speechless to see all the purple New Balance gear, as the interconnectedness is so surreal.

Running in honor of Muddy, Emily has turned her grief into motivation. “It feels so cool to start this—being the first on my team to run for a foundation we’re partnered with. I hope it continues.” The combination of honoring her grandmother, wearing New Balance gear she’s passionate about, and being part of a new team “lights her fire.”

Emily also hopes that her efforts and the work of Project Purple will change the future of pancreatic cancer. She shares that before her grandmother passed from the disease, she did not know too much about it. So, Emily says that “I think it’s important for people to know about it. I hope no one has an experience with it, but just knowing about it makes you more aware. Whether that’s a little donation or a simple conversation, that awareness matters. Knowledge is power, and that’s what Muddy did as a tour guide—she spread knowledge. That’s something I hope to keep doing in her honor.”

When asked about her plans for the future, Emily shares that she definitely wants to keep running, and as much as it’s a physical activity she found herself loving, it’s also a way to carry a legacy and find a new pack to belong to. “It’s kind of like continuing my sport and perfecting my craft, she says. “It is the same thing in a different light, and I get to do it for my grandmother. If I can continue doing it, I will if I’m able. However that looks, I will continue to do after this marathon.”

To support Emily’s run in honor of Muddy and to help raise awareness for pancreatic cancer, donate to her fundraising page here.

If you’d like to run or participate in an event of your own for Project Purple, visit our events page.