Ever thought about running the Boston Marathon?
When high-school cross country runner Zach Hunter set a goal to run Boston, he never thought it would take seven years to get there. But he refused to give up on his dream.
.
Here's what happened...
Seven years ago, the young Zach Hunter took a trip from Salem, Utah, to Portland, Ore., to visit his grandma for Thanksgiving.
.
As a high-schooler, he was used to the ever-busy schedule...
So with a lot of downtime during the Thanksgiving break and a steady drizzle of Pacific Northwest rain, the inevitable happened. He was bored, and cross country was still fresh on his mind.
.
"So I just asked Google something like, 'What's the hardest run I can do?'" says Zach.
.
Google's answer: The Boston Marathon.
"You have to be 18 to run the Boston Marathon," Zach's dad told him. "And you have to qualify for it by running a marathon in under three hours."
.
At the time, Zach was used to running 5Ks...FAST...but he wasn't afraid to step into the unknown.
.
"I thought, OK, based on where I'm at, it might take me a year or more to get in shape to qualify. And then a little more time to get into Boston."
.
With a two-year window, that should put him on the starting line of the Boston Marathon in April 2020.
Zach left that Thanksgiving break with the Boston Marathon on his mind.
.
And he put in the work...
🏃♂️With a 3-hour qualifying time to get into the Boston Marathon, he knew he had more work to do.
.
But instead of being discouraged, he held on to the goal he set during Thanksgiving break a few years earlier, and kept pushing forward.
.
"Every time I got a new pair of running shoes, I would write on the heel: BOSTON 2020," says Zach. "It started to kind of be like my trademark at practice."
.
⏱️Go get that Boston Marathon qualifying time
.
After running a few more marathons, Zach headed to the starting line of the REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon on a cool September morning in 2019.
He rode the race bus up Cottonwood Canyon early in the morning, and everything he worked so hard for seemed to be falling into place.
.
"The race was amazing," says Zach. "I was feeling great for like 20 miles, and passed a lot of people during the last few miles."
.
⏱️He crossed the finish line in 2:52, one step closer to his dream of running the Boston Marathon.
.
"That race was super cool," says Zach." "I finished strong and I qualified for Boston. It gave me so much confidence, you know like 'I can't be stopped. I'm the king of the world.'"
.
"And then it all came crashing down."
Just a few months after qualifying for the Boston Marathon, COVID-19 cancelled the race for the first time ever.
.
And Zach was devastated.
.
"I was really depressed," says Zach. "At the time, I had a shin split that was bothering me, so I wasn't running at all, and then COVID happened. How was I going to fulfill this dream now?"
.
It felt like a now or never moment.
.
Even though the Boston Marathon was eventually rescheduled as a virtual race in September 2020, Zach already had other plans.
"Honestly, it felt like the world was ending," says Zach.
.
He packed his bags and left for Georgia, wondering if he'd ever have another chance to cross the Boston Marathon finish line.
When you set a big goal, work for it, think about it every day for years, and nearly get there, giving up doesn't really seem like an option.
.
Instead, you just have to find another way. And that's exactly what Zach did.
"While I waited at the starting line, I was surrounded by runners from all over the world," says Zach.
.
"And I realized everybody there had some kind of story, some kind of struggle, some kind of obstacle they had to overcome to get there. It wasn't just me."
Favorite running shoe
Favorite running shirt
Favorite race
Favorite training distance
Favorite running route
Fueling failure
Advice
What's next?
Login to your account to leave a comment.
We Want to Give it to You!