Source: Brockton Enterprise
Pulling 12-hour workdays as America scrambles to file its taxes, Venice Touze still finds time for the occasional 20-mile run. The real estate accountant is raising money for an affordable housing nonprofit as she prepares for the 123rd Boston Marathon.
EASTON — Tax day is doubly significant for Venice Touze this year.
Professionally, it concludes a hellish period of seven-day work weeks as Touze, a certified public accountant, finishes helping her clients file their taxes. April 15 will also be the day the Brockton native runs her first marathon, the culmination of a 15-year running career that began as a student at Brockton High School.
Touze grew up on the city’s East Side. She started running competitively as a 15-year-old, specializing in the 800-meter sprint before transitioning to cross country, eventually captaining the team in her senior year.
Later, after graduating Bentley University and starting work at Gray, Gray and Gray LLP, Touze returned to the Brockton area and started logging serious mileage.
Keaney started running in 2008 with the Couch to 5K at the YMCA and discovered she loved running. Since then, she’s run 5Ks, marathons and ultramarathons — which are any footraces longer than the traditional marathon length of 26 miles 385 yards.
She enjoyed the sport so much, she said she watched the Boston race a year ago, after she and her husband relocated to the area.
“… We made sure to get out watching the marathon and cheering everyone on,” she said. “I was hooked. I couldn’t move all the way out here and not somehow participate in this race!”
During tax season, Touze finds time between the 12-hour workdays for “short” training sessions that last one to two hours. On the weekend, Touze regularly stretches out her runs to longer than 15 miles.
In her personal life, Touze’s disciplined attitude has paid huge dividends. The 30-year-old woman already owns her own home in Easton, though she says the lack of sidewalks in the well-to-do suburb sends her to Brockton’s D.W. Field Park for many of her longer runs.
As Touze prepares for the 123rd Boston Marathon, she is raising money for Metro Housing, a Boston-based nonprofit that connects residents with federal and state housing assistance programs.
As an accountant who specializes in real estate, Touze said many of her clients are developers and real estate professionals who do business in Boston.
“I’m seeing how much money people are putting into the city,” she told The Enterprise. “I’ve also noticed it’s no longer affordable for a lot of people who are already there.”
Metro Housing “supports people who aren’t able to keep up with all the changes that are happening in the city,” she added.
Touze is one of five members of Team Metro Housing, which, over the course of 13 marathons, has raised $431,000 since 2006.
This year, Touze has helped raise more than $5,000 to prevent families and individuals throughout Greater Boston from becoming homeless. To help Venice reach her $8,000 fundraising goal for Metro Housing, readers can make a donation online through the John Hancock Non-Profit Program, which provides matching funds.