Not too long ago, Boston native Nick MacDonald was working at Dunkin' Donuts when he was discovered by Hotel Commonwealth's then-director of operations. Working on a hunch that MacDonald would be a natural in the hotel industry, he offered him a job—and the rest is history.

 Brothers JP and Paul Norden were cheering on a friend at last year’s Boston Marathon when the bombs went off. Standing directly beside the blast, the brothers—and Paul’s girlfriend Jacqui—were severely injured. Both JP and Paul ended up losing part of their right legs.

 The first time John Stoller ran the Boston Marathon, it was sort of an accident. A casual runner, he had planned to jog alongside a friend for a few miles and then stop in Wellesley, but he kept challenging himself to run farther until he finally decided to just finish the race.

 On Marathon Monday in 2013, Richard “Dic” Donohue was just another man in uniform, working as a transit police officer for the city of Boston. One year later, he’s become a symbol of survival after being struck during a shoot-out in Watertown between police and Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

When they hear “Fenway,” most people think of baseball, but there’s a whole lot more going on in this Boston neighborhood than pop flies and World Series wins. Here are 10 ways to have a ball, even when it’s not game day.

Running her first Boston Marathon in 2013, Shonna Cirone made it up Heartbreak Hill, ran through the Wellesley “scream tunnel,” and was almost to Kenmore Square when she was instructed to stop. Something had happened at the finish line, and the race was over. Unable to reach her friends by phone, she decided to continue walking into the city. 

Dear Boston is an exhibit featuring select pieces from the Boston Marathon memorial at the Boston Public Library.

In 1963, Kennedy’s White House partnered up with DC Comics to create a story promoting his Council on Physical Fitness. The comic, drawn by Superman artist Al Plastino, was still in production when Kennedy was assassinated. Now you can see the original comic book art for the first time at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.