Senior Andrew Moore was on mile 19 of his marathon. His legs ached from hamstring to calf, burning with every step up hill. But he ignored the familiar pain and kept moving to keep his even pace.
The 30 degree Sunday mornings in January he spent bundled in his North Face hat and gloves at 6 a.m. prepared him well. He jogged through the snow and brutal wind and because of his diligent training, Moore was prepared for the distance.
He completed the full 26.2 miles on Feb 24., beating his goal of four hours by 12 minutes. With parents and coaches cheering from stops along the way, Moore finished his self-made marathon at his house. He scheduled his own marathon so it wouldn’t interfere with track season, which began Feb. 26, two days after his run.
There weren’t any packs of runners, no water stations, no official finish line to cross. Moore spent nearly four months training for a marathon he designed himself — all because he wanted to prove to himself that he could.
“Every step I took was one that I didn’t have to do again,” Moore said.
Finishing a marathon was always on his bucket list; once he put his mind to it in November, he wanted to see what he could accomplish and became determined to complete it. Moore is a cross country and track veteran — he will enter in his fourth and final season this year. With IB and NHS in the classroom, running became an outlet where he could focus on one, simple task.
Brotherly competition also motivated Moore. His brother Will’s times overshadowed Moore his freshman year. Although Will is faster, he hasn’t completed a marathon, even more reason for Moore to run 26.2 miles.
Since there weren’t any local marathons on the weekend he planned to run, he created his own route so that he could begin Track and Field practice the following week. Moore’s custom marathon began at his house and made five-mile loops throughout neighborhoods, stretching from Nall Avenue to Mission Road. He enlisted senior Madeline Hlobik, juniors Joe Brown, Quincy Eastlack, Griffin Keeter and sophomore Eleanor Hlobik to run parts of the marathon with him to keep him company.
“I did the last two miles with him,” Eleanor said. “He was running well at a decent pace, and I was tired by the end, so I couldn’t believe he had done 24 miles already.”
Moore’s training began in the fall after finishing Cross Country season. Starting after the season would allow him to begin training while he was already in shape and practicing long distance. According to East cross country and track coach Tricia Beaham, Moore was willing to test his limits.
“It’s 80 percent mental,” Beaham said. “People like Andrew who have a desire to run a marathon want to push their body and see what they can do.”
Since November, he ran two four-mile runs during the week and a longer run on the weekend. The weekends leading up to the marathon, Moore’s long runs were 18, 20, 22 and 24 miles respectively. On the long runs that he wanted to walk and take breaks, he managed to keep his focus.
“I realized that if I wanted to run this marathon, I would have to train regardless of any conditions,” Moore said.
In the final miles, Moore gained speed when he recognized the roads he grew up running on and saw the finish — his house. He finished his marathon without an official reward or medal, just the satisfaction of completing the feat.
He returned to track tryouts Wednesday after taking the necessary time off, but running such a long distance had the potential endanger his track season because of the toll long distance takes on runners.
Moore may be able to run for four hours straight, but one mile track sprints take some getting used to. The two sports differ most in how they are run — track focuses on fast, explosive runs while long distance prizes pacing. Moore was warned that he could risk his short distance half mile and mile events, but was headstrong in deciding to run the marathon. Beaham thought his race could be at a better time, but expects his transition to be smooth.
“He has been smart about going about it gradually and not hopping into it,” Beaham said. “He will be able to recover better because of that and adequate rest.”
For now, he looks forward to starting his senior track season strong. Even though Moore doesn’t think he’ll run another marathon in the future because of the steep training commitment required, he is content knowing that he was able to conquer one.
“I have a lot of life yet to live so I won’t rule out the possibility of doing another,” Moore said. “Having completed one does make me feel better since I know that I am capable of it.”