Full speed ahead: GHS graduate runs Boston Marathon after only two years of training

Many athletes who strive to run in the Boston Marathon train for years to qualify — and sometimes never do.

But for 35-year-old Valerie Lemmons, all it took was a couple years of training.

However, if you had told her back when she was attending Granbury High School in the mid-2000s that she would be running in the 2023 Boston Marathon, she would’ve laughed.

“I disliked (running) so much as a younger person,” she said. “And I wasn’t very good at it.”

In fact, Leta Andrews’ daughter Lisa was Lemmons’ basketball coach when she was younger. Lemmons said that Lisa couldn’t believe that Lemmons enjoys running now.

"Leta was my coach in high school, but her daughter actually coached me from when I was young all the way through when I got into high school, and she has actually just been flabbergasted that I run because it was just something that I'd never get into,” Lemmons explained. "She’s told me as much that she's just shocked that I'm running now.”

Lemmons, who graduated from GHS in 2006 as the class valedictorian, said she first became interested in running during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“I was with the kids at home all day, not being able to get out much because everything was closed,” she said, thinking back. “I needed an outlet, I guess, to just have some time to myself, so I was like, ‘Well running is something I can do even with the kids,’ because I had a double stroller at the time, and I could push them in it. My husband was kind enough to agree to let me get a treadmill for that Christmas in December of 2020, and so that's what really kicked off running for me.”

Lemmons joined a local running club in her current town of residence, Conway, Arkansas — and that’s when her spark for running was ignited.

"I'm a really competitive person, so I think I needed a competitive outlet,” she said. “The great thing about running is you can kind of just compete with yourself; you don't have to win. While that's fun, of course, it's not really the main goal. It's just kind of interesting to see yourself get better and better."

She began training for her first marathon in the fall of 2021 after she realized she wasn’t “half bad at running.”

“I was like, ‘Well, I'll just do one of these marathons everybody talks about, and if I'm gonna do this, I'm going to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon, because why not?’” she said.

After putting in several hours of work and effort — plus running several miles — she ran a marathon in Arkansas in November of 2021, which was exactly what she needed to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

“My time had to be a sub-3:35 for my age and I think I raced that in 3:26 or something so that qualified me. I was pretty shocked,” she said.

Lemmons ran in the 127th Boston Marathon on April 17 of this year, and there were nearly 30,000 runners competing.

"The Boston Marathon was last Monday and I'm just now walking normally again,” she said, with a chuckle.

One major aspect of the marathon that shocked Lemmons, she said, was how big of a spectacle the event is for Boston.

"I didn't know how big of a deal it was, but once I got into the running community, I realized ‘Oh, this is like, the goal for people to qualify for this race,’” she explained. “And then I still didn't realize how big it was until I got to the race and saw how many came out for this thing. I think there were a million spectators that came out, not just from the families that came with the runners, but like, all of Boston came out. There was not a stretch of the course that didn’t have somebody cheering for you. It was a really cool experience."

Lemmons finished the 26.2-mile race in three hours and 44 minutes, which did not qualify her for another Boston Marathon — but her results did not deter her in the slightest.

"It wasn't a qualifying time for another marathon, but I had already run one this past December that qualified me, so I was kind of just training to get across the finish line, not necessarily to get a great time,” she said. “I was just kind of there for the experience, so it was a pretty good time for my training considering I hadn't put in too much effort.”

Since she started running, Lemmons said the constant activity has helped not only her physical health, but her mental health as well.

"I guess I needed an outlet from the pandemic and the stress from that,” she explained. “It's been really good to have the friendships I've made and the benefits to my mental health from just making connections. Also being outside and getting the sunshine helps a lot too."

With a marathon she ran in December, Lemmons had already qualified for another Boston Marathon — but she’s still unsure if she’s going to return there for a future race.

"I'm actually the president now of the Conway running club and in Arkansas, we have this thing called the Arkansas Grand Prix, which is a series of road races ranging from a mile to marathon distance over the course of a year that you get points for, and at the end of the year, whoever races and gets the highest points at these races gets an award,” she said. “Last year, I actually was the top female of the Arkansas Grand Prix — which was wild, and I don't know how I managed that — so my goal is just to run in a few more Grand Prix races this year and doing local races, that type of thing.”

Lemmons said that she is thankful for her husband, James (Jim) Wren, for taking care of their two kids: Dashiell, 5, and Merritt, 3, whenever she goes for a run.

She added that she encourages other aspiring runners to join a local running club for peer encouragement and motivation, to run outside for some fresh air, and to run at a slower pace when first starting out to build up endurance.

“I mostly want people to know that you really can do this,” she added. “I know you think ‘Oh, I hate running’ or ‘I'm not good at running,’ but running is a sport that you can really improve at no matter who you are, and you can actually get pretty good. All it takes is consistency.”