Mtn. Home runner finishes second during Boise Marathon

Mountain Home runner James Gilbert finished second in a marathon ran in Boise on Oct. 4.

Gilbert's effort qualifies him for the Boston Marathon, which will be run in April.

For Gilbert, the assistant superintendent for the Mountain Home School District, it was his first marathon run. He averaged 6 minutes and 16 seconds per mile.

"I was actually pretty surprised," Gilbert said. "My goal had been to run 2:59, and I ended up running 2:44 (two hours, 44 minutes). It was pretty darned cold and rained the whole entire time, but I was very happy with how I did!"

Gilbert, who ran cross country in high school in Montana, and has kept in shape by running, was pleased that his training time paid off. "That was my first marathon, so I wasn't sure how I would do. I trained for about 20 weeks to get ready for it. Once we got out there in the race, it got pretty interesting. I ran with the leader there for probably the first three and a half or four miles, and knew we were on a pretty good pace. Once we hit the 10-mile mark, I figured I could break 2:50, and it turned out really well."

Being able to run in the Boston Marathon is "something that I've always thought about, even as I was younger, and I've been a runner my whole life, so to actually qualify for the Boston Marathon, I'm pretty excited.

"Talking with my wife about it, we're trying to decide what the rational of that is, but I would certainly like to run it. That's April 19, so I'm hoping I can do it."