Not many people can say they’ve run a marathon after getting a pacemaker for an irregular heartbeat. Fewer can say they’ve run seven marathons after a procedure like that.

But that’s exactly what 63-year-old Wareham resident Howard Staples did, and on April 20, he’ll be running his eighth 26.2 mile race, his third and final Boston Marathon.

Staples said he is positive this will be his last Boston Marathon and he didn’t even think he would be running this one as recently as a few months ago.

From the more than 600 members of his running club, the Abington-based Colonial Road Runners, Staples was one of the 10 given a coveted race number for this year’s Boston Marathon.

“I felt honored to get a number,” Staples said.

He said that the group gets 10 free race numbers from the Boston Athletic Association because every year about 40 members of the Colonial Road Runners volunteer at water stops along the Boston Marathon course. Stapes said the group generally gives out the 10 numbers based on who volunteers at the most races and events, and he tries to volunteer his time at least once a month.

While he didn't know he would be running his third Boston Marathon until this winter, he couldn't have imagined running any of them back in 2009.

That May, Staples heart stopped twice in one day. He was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia and had a pacemaker implanted in June of 2009. After his surgery, Staples began running with the Gateway Running Club at the Gleason Family YMCA. Staples had been a distance runner in high school, college and even during his time in the Air Force but only ran on and off after his time in the service. He said he had completed a few half marathons but never thought an average runner like himself could finish the Boston Marathon.

"I had this idea to run Boston you had to be this elite athlete," he said.

But when he joined the Gateway Running Club he said he met people who had run Boston multiple times and decided to do the necessary fundraising to run it himself.

Staples works at a group home in Plymouth for blind and deaf young adults so in 2010 and 2011 he ran and raised money for the Perkins School for the Blind team. Staples said he has run a few shorter races pushing along a young man he works with in a chair, like the famed father son "Team Hoyt" duo at the Boston Marathon.

Staples remembers passing Dick Hoyt and his son Rick in Newton during the 2011 marathon.

"He was having a tough time but they finished," Staples said.

That wasn't Staples' only brush with fame in Boston. Last year he was working as a volunteer in the medical tent at the finish line and got to briefly meet the race winner Meb Keflezighi, Olympic silver medalist and the first American man to win the Boston Marathon in more than 30 years.

Staples said he previously had met him at a book signing in Hyannis in 2010.

"He's always been a hero of mine," he said.

Staples worked at the medical tent in 2014 and 2012, but his wife, Ardi, insisted they take a cruise for their anniversary during the race in 2013 when the bombings occurred.

Ardi has cheered on Staples at both of his races in Boston, along with Staples sister and a young man from his group home. She'll be at the finish line on April 20 to cheer on Staples in his final Boston Marathon.

"It's an overwhelming experience, to get the alerts about where he is [on the course] and then know he's finished," Ardi said. "Marathon day is a long day but it's worth it in the end."

Staples said it was a rough winter of training that involved a lot of indoor and treadmill running, but he's ready for the marathon.

He said his goal is to break five hours for the race. He ran 5:08 in 2010 and 4:58 in 2011. Staples said when he's out on the course getting cheered on by half a million people he'll be thinking of those who helped get him there.

"You're thinking about all the people supporting you, you don't want to disappoint them," he said.