2014 runners Smith, Pelkey to cover 2015 Boston Marathon

Andrea Pelkey and Marty Smith prior to last year’s race. (Jim Bowdon/ESPN)

Andrea Pelkey and Marty Smith working together at a NASCAR race in 2012, checking their phones before a live SportsCenter segment. (Andy Hall/ESPN)

Monday’s Boston Marathon will mark a return for ESPN bureau reporter Marty Smith and bureau producer Andrea Pelkey.

One year ago, Smith and Pelkey, longtime friends and co-workers, competed in the race. This year, they will be on-site at the event to provide day-long reports for SportsCenter.

Pelkey, who lives in Boston, competed in last year’s race partially as a means to cope with the tragic bombing at the 2013 race and as part of her own triumphant personal journey of getting more fit. Smith had texted Pelkey moments after receiving news of the bombing, asking if she was ok but also to say they would run the race together in 2014.

Both expect that their Boston Marathon running experiences will affect how they will cover the 2015 event for SportsCenter.

“I think this year I have a better idea of what the individual athletes go through,” said Pelkey. “I think being and living and existing in Boston as I have, I understand what the day is for the people of this city, and then last year, my goal of running was directly related to the incident of 2013 and trying to get over the traumatic effects of that, and that was a goal I had to reach to do so.

“And this year it’s going to be interesting because I’m covering it again. I covered it in 2013 so I think it’s going to be kind of a return to – I don’t want to say normalcy because I don’t think it’ll ever be normal – but a return to the celebration of that day for me.”

Smith, who traveled the NASCAR circuit with Pelkey for eight years in previous assignments, looks forward to being back on the scene.

“Having lived it and put in the effort over five or six months to prepare, and then spending that four or so hours competing in it and taking on that challenge, and defeating that challenge, gives you a true-life perspective on something that you rarely have,” said Smith.

“I’m not [ESPN NFL analyst] Herm Edwards. I’m not [ESPN NBA analyst] Bruce Bowen. I never played the game professionally, but in this instance, I did,” he said. “So I have that insight about the struggle, the emotion and the accomplishment, and about what it means to that city and that region, both in the broad stroke for the region and city, and the visceral, personal effect as well.”

Editor’s Note: ESPN.com senior writer and ESPN reporter Andy Katz is preparing to run in the 2015 Boston Marathon.