Wearing bib No. 0001, Rachael Wittmer set out on the arduous and challenging “Not-Boston” Marathon on a sunny and seasonably warm Monday morning.

It was a course of her own making.

It began at Knoch High School, cut through downtown Saxonburg, skirted Roebling Park, snaked along winding Aderhold Road and sliced through the Plantation neighborhood until she arrived at Knoch again.

She repeated that loop three more times.

Each more difficult than the last.

“I honestly think it was the most challenging marathon I've run to date,” Wittmer said, chuckling. “I mean, I probably could have made the course easier.”

The Butler woman stopped to tie her shoes once. Took an emergency bathroom break. Cried when she saw her grandparents holding a sign that said, “Grit,” was cheered by a lot of people she knew.

She smiled at every sign of encouragement that well-wishers made along her route and was humbled by the hills of Saxonburg that made her want to quit at least twice.

But she didn't.

She kept moving.

Grit.

“Doing four loops made it mentally demanding,” Wittmer said. “Running the same hills and knowing what was coming up made it difficult.”

Wittmer, though, was running with a purpose.

The 2017 Knoch High School graduate and Penn State University junior had qualified for the actual Boston Marathon for the second year in a row. In 2019, she barely missed the cutoff of approximately 30,000 runners (more than that qualify in a given year). For the 2020 race, she was in the field.

But the coronavirus pandemic canceled the event, which was scheduled April 20.

Wittmer decided to run a marathon anyway to raise money for the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center, where she had worked as a volunteer in the past.

She succeeded, raising $3,500 for the center at 103 Bonnie Drive, which provides care to the uninsured or underinsured.

“I was shocked I was able to raise that much money,” Wittmer said. “Knowing I was running for that cause made it not seem like another training run.”

The friends and family who supported her effort also made it special.

Seeing her grandparents was the highlight of her run, Wittmer said.

“That meant so much,” Wittmer said. “It has been different not seeing them anymore. My family is my biggest support system. I am so close to my family.”

Wittmer got another break, too — the weather.

“I was joking,” she said, “that this was the best Boston weather for the marathon in years.”

When Wittmer finally finished, she broke through tape that her friends had arranged for her run.

A parent of one of Wittmer's teammates on the Penn State club cross country team made her a first-place ribbon to wear after her triumphant finish.

“I've never broken the tape before in a race,” Wittmer said, laughing. “Running my own marathon was so surreal.”

Yes, Rachael Wittmer became the first winner of the “Not-Boston” Marathon, which she hopes does not become an annual event.

What was she thinking when she finally did finish?

“When can I sit down?” she said, laughing. “This was the hardest marathon, but definitely my favorite.”

To Wittmer, though, what really mattered wasn't her final time — 3 hours, 39 minutes and 34 seconds. It was the fact she raised so much money for a cause dear to her.

“That was my slowest marathon to date — by about 13 minutes — but it's also the one I'm most proud of,” she said. “In the end, it was all about the clinic and not the time that mattered to me.”