Euphoria in Eugene: 27 min PB and Boston Qualifier for Kashtin Bogart
Justin KentMile2Marathon athlete, Kashtin Bogart, crushed the Eugene Marathon over the weekend, running a 27min personal best and snagging a Boston qualifier in a time of 2:57:21! A staple of our Vancouver running community, having worked with Tony Tomsich and now Rob Watson on our Personal Coaching Plan for the past six years. “Kash” reflects on how much this race means to him, his race-day mentality, and the difference maker in this build compared to the previous.
Massive congratulations on an epic run Sunday! How are the legs feeling now? Has the accomplishment set in yet? I can only imagine how much this means to you!
I’m feeling not too bad this morning, besides some soreness here and there. But I’ve got no words to describe how I’m feeling. It’s been a long six years with broken bones, injuries, and bad luck, but all the stars aligned on the day, and I felt so good. I FINALLY qualified for the Boston Marathon!
That’s amazing! What was your mentality coming into the race? Were you gunning for a big PB?
Mentally coming into the race, I knew I was fit and kept reminding myself to trust my fitness. I just wanted to run a strong marathon so that after the race, I could look at myself in the mirror, know I did everything I could, and be proud of myself.
Rob had me at 2:59-3:05, and I realistically thought I would’ve finished between 3:01-3:03, and I’d be thrilled with that. Once the gun went off, I kept it pretty chill and ran the first 25km effortlessly. I got surprised when I caught up to the 3-hour pacer and 12 other people at km 27, and that’s when I got my 2nd wind. I knew I was having a great day, and I got excited. I ran with them until km 34, and that’s when I surged ahead and started picking people off and bringing it home! How I pulled off a 2:57:21 still blows my mind.
You ran a really smart and patient race and used that momentum the last 8km. What do you think was the difference maker in this marathon build compared to the previous?
The big difference maker was my consistency, hitting bigger weekly mileage, and, most importantly, staying healthy. In past marathon builds, I’ve suffered a stress fracture, overuse injuries and other annoying injuries that would affect how I ran the marathon.
Reflecting on this build, what did you enjoy the most?
What I enjoyed most about this build was the M2M training sessions and all the new friends I’ve made. Running is not an individual sport; it takes a team and some fun to run your best on race day because we are #bettertogether. There are so many people to thank because I probably wouldn’t have run as well as I did at Eugene without them.
I love to hear it and couldn’t agree more. How’d you celebrate this massive accomplishment?
We had a massive crew down here in Eugene, so it was great to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments with some food and drinks.