With the sun beating down, the runners strike the hot paved cement. Spectators accumulate at the finish line to congratulate the participants. Runners finish at various times with the encouragement radiating off of each and every person.

The Boston Marathon was run on Monday, April 21. With the race lasting roughly six hours, two MCHS alumni finished within the first three.

“Instead of thinking about how tired I was, I focused on all of the things I was grateful for in my life,” Alumni Andrew Pilat says. “When you are running for something bigger than yourself it’s easier to find strength in places you didn’t even know existed.”

After graduating Pilat continued to run during his college years, training every day for something bigger.

“After I finished running at MCHS, I competed on the cross-country and track teams at Eastern Illinois University for five years,” Pilat says. “After finishing up with collegiate running, I knew that I wanted to keep testing my limits to see what I could do. My main motivation for continuing to compete is my love for running and the community that comes with it.”

Even though running a marathon isnt easy Pilat was able to run with another alumni, Curtis Weisenberger. The pace of the race is always set on training days, Pilat dedicated a lot of his time to his running career.

“I ran twice a day; once in the morning, and once in the evening,” Pilat says. “A couple times a week I would do longer runs at my goal marathon pace, and on the weekends I would do a long run of 20-24 miles. I was running about 120 miles a week during my hardest training weeks. I had to prioritize recovery since I was going to work between my morning and evening runs.”

Even though Pilat graduated in the class of 2008, he still remembers the coaches and teammates who made an impact on his life through running

“My middle school and high-school coach, Kevin Horst, always said that his main hope was for us to become lifelong runners. My hope is that I’ll be able to enjoy running with others for the rest of my life,” Pilat says. “I would give anything to go back and do one more workout at McCracken Field with my high school teammates.”

While chasing their dreams out of high school further into their future, MCHS will continue to support all athletes with their amazing achievement.