Utah runner who led Boston Marathon for a time shares his story

Utah runner who led Boston Marathon for a time shares his story

(Seth Wold, sethwold.blogspot.com)


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BOSTON — As the 2014 Boston Marathon got underway, the cameras, as usual, were zeroed in on U.S. favorites Meb Keflezighi and Ryan Hall. Within a minute after the start, the pack was led by Utah resident Seth Wold.

Although Wold only lead the race for the first 2.5 miles, he did not go unnoticed, sparking many to wonder who he was and why he did what he did. After all, he did not finish at the top. In fact, Wold crossed the finish line in 927th place, 41 minutes behind winner Keflezighi.

Wold, however, is not the weekend warrior some of his critics are making him out to be.

With a personal best marathon time of 2 hours, 22.51 minutes (set at the Ogden Marathon), Wold, who competed collegiately at Utah State University, has every reason to be running with the elite athletes. Just weeks before he had successfully completed a half-marathon in an impressive 1:10, and was looking forward to running in the Boston Marathon with a goal of 2:25 -2:30 hours.

However, nine days before the race, Wold injured his knee while playing a game of soccer with his wife.

Not wanting to miss the chance to run in such a historic event, and also wanting to represent his sponsor and business partners at Altra (Icon Fitness) well, Wold decided he would still compete, but it wouldn’t be the way he had initially planned.

Seth Wold (center) poses with Oiselle athletes 
Kara Goucher (right) and Lauren Fleshman at the 
Boston Marathon Expo.
Seth Wold (center) poses with Oiselle athletes Kara Goucher (right) and Lauren Fleshman at the Boston Marathon Expo. (Photo: Seth Wold, sethwold.blogspot.com)

Being the elite athlete that he is, Wold has many races on his schedule for 2014. Knowing that he would risk injuring his knee more, if he raced at full speed, he made the decision to use Boston as a training run with a speed work-out in the middle. It's something he had done many times before.

As he thought the race through, Wold figured what better time to get his fast miles in than right at the start and be able to run with his heroes.

“Talk about a dream come true for the track nerd part of me. The whole pack was silent. We went at a 4:50 pace and it was effortless for all the lead men. I kept hearing cheers for Hall and Meb, but none for me,” Wold joked.

Wold praised the running community for being so friendly and uplifting, citing a pleasant interaction he had prior to the race with athlete Kara Goucher, who he named as “The LeBron James of the running world.”

After leading the pack for 2.5 miles, Wold felt his knee catch, and decided to back off and fade back into a comfortable training pace, and enjoy the rest of the marathon. And with one mile to go, Wold remembered something a coach of his once told him: “Sit back, relax and enjoy the last mile.”

He did just that as he passed the memorabilia placed near the finish line for the lives lost in last year’s bombings. After crossing the finish line in a still very impressive time of 2:49.43, he described the experience as “electrifying,” and one he would not soon forget.

To know more about Wold, and about his upcoming races, go to altrazerodrop.com or sethwold.blogspot.com.


Arianne Brown is a mother of six and contributor to "Reasons to Run." For more reasons why people run, go to the Reasons 2 Run Facebook page.

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