Immediately after completing the 125th Boston Marathon on October 11, 2021, Harris Craycraft knew that he wanted to run the Boston Marathon again in April 2022, he said.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio and four-year remember of Boston College’s club running team, Craycraft, MCAS ’22, qualified for October’s marathon at a small race in Columbus, Ohio in 2020. Although he already had one Boston Marathon under his belt, Craycraft said that this time around he faced new challenges.
Craycraft started training in January 2022, he said, but struggled because he was not in the proper shape. Because of this, he had to shift tactics from training with other BC club runners to training on his own, he said.
“This time, I just was not in shape, but I couldn’t keep up with the other guys, and I wasn’t having fun,” Craycraft said. “So I basically threw off all expectations and just started doing the workouts that would be personally motivating for me and workouts that I could have fun doing. And once I started doing things on my own terms, I had a lot more fun and a lot more success in my training.”
Other challenges Craycraft faced included pain in his shin and his quad that stayed with him for a few weeks as well as keeping up with training while abroad for Spring Break, he said.
While running the marathon, Craycraft said that he was intentional about soaking the whole experience in one last time as a BC student.
“I think being a BC student is probably the best way to run the Boston Marathon,” Craycraft said. “There’s so many people yelling out on the course, you know, cheering for BC or for the Eagles, and I couldn’t be more grateful or more proud to wear the BC jersey while running the course. It’s super special.”
