Courtesy of Khuan-Yu Hall

At Easton’s Beach in Newport, Rhode Island, on Saturday, April 19, more than four thousand runners gathered for the start of the 2025 Newport Marathon. Among them were several Yale students — some seasoned runners, others first-timers — who had spent months weaving long runs into already-packed college schedules.

Just two days later, on Monday, April 21, John Cho ’27 crossed the finish line of the 129th Boston Marathon. The world-famous race, which spans 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boylston Street in downtown Boston, drew over 30,000 participants this year.

The Boston Marathon, one of seven World Marathon Majors and the world’s oldest annual marathon, had been on Cho’s radar since last spring, when he ran the Newport Marathon with Yale Club Running.

“I think most people look to Boston as a goal or stepping stone once they start running marathons,” Cho told the News. “Once I knew I was going to run Newport last year, I had Boston in the back of my mind for sure.”

A former high school 5K runner, Cho did not initially plan on becoming a long-distance runner. But since arriving at Yale, marathon training has become a constant in his life. He hovered between 80 and 100 miles per week for most of the academic year and ramped up to 120 miles over spring break in preparation for racing.

Cho noted that while “holding higher mileage while at school is always difficult,” and that the first week back from break was especially tough, he rarely sacrificed academics or sleep while training.

“I try to not let my training take away from my classes, and also not let school take away from my training,” said Cho.

Cho’s goal for Boston was to run a 2:30:00 marathon, but early nerves and late-race fatigue forced him to adjust.

He recalled feeling “pretty nervous” for the first couple of miles, as the streets were packed and he didn’t want to risk falling. He noted that as he settled into a good rhythm, he enjoyed listening to the spectators cheering along the route and to the runners around him. 

“Around mile 19, I started feeling a bit weak and my pace started falling off, so I had to shift from thinking about my goal time to just trying to finish and have fun,” said Cho. “Last six or so miles were really brutal, but it’s finishing the Boston marathon, so I was still in good spirits.”

After crossing the finish line, Cho’s celebration was brief: lunch with his family, who had come to watch him race, followed by a train ride back to New Haven. After meeting the standard time at this year’s marathon, he hopes to run in Boston again next year.

While Cho’s training was meticulous, other Yale runners took more improvisational routes to the marathon.

Jessica Le ’25, who ran her first marathon in Newport this weekend, said she had never previously run more than six miles before this year. 

“I didn’t enjoy running because it came with all the stats — how fast, how far — and I felt like I was bad at it,” she said. 

Le, a former competitive mountain biker, said she felt like she lost a big part of herself when she came to Yale without access to trails. Running, she explained, became her “sanctioned time to touch grass.”

Le noted that her training was a bit ill-prepared, consisting mostly of medium-distance runs that fell short of the full 26.2 mile distance.

 “Admittedly, it was hard to carve out two or more hours for weekend long runs,” she said. “Classwork and extracurriculars always felt like a priority over marathon training.” Le, however, credited a fellow marathon-training friend, Evan Tsai ’26, and his persistent morning texts to run together, keeping her on track.

 “Waking up wasn’t really a challenge, though,” she added. “It was the especially cold winter this year.” Still, on race day, she lined up with just one expectation: to finish. “My brother told me the only things you need to run a marathon are shoes and a will to live,” she said. “At the start, I had both.”

During the race, Le witnessed the pain and perseverance of her fellow runners.  She noted that in the last eight miles, she saw the “very raw, yet human side of people.”

One man, she recalled, collapsed wailing in front of her. She remembers seeing racers crying, stopping to throw up and getting pulled off the course on stretchers.

“Even when I was in immense pain, I tried to encourage people to keep pushing as I passed them.” At mile 23, when she hit her lowest point, a man passed Le she guessed was at least 75 years old. “That’s when I had a realization,” she said. “This is more than a race — it’s a celebration of our bodies. It’s such a privilege to be able to run 26.2 miles.”

 On race day, he struggled with pacing — going out too fast in the early miles before hitting a wall around mile 20. However, when he turned around and saw the 3:30 pacer just behind him, he knew he had to hold on.

“The last 10K is where you discover who you really are,” Tsai said. “My legs were completely dead… but the pack I was with took turns drafting. We pushed each other.” 

“I felt an overwhelming wave of emotion and pure relief,” he said. “I knew I had pushed my body to its limit, and it felt that I had genuinely earned my goal time.”

After the marathon, Tsai noted how “your race day performance is the result of every run you’ve done before — not just one long run or workout.” Cho agreed, stating how there’s “no shortcut to becoming a runner.”

Le put it more simply. “Anyone can run,” she said. “It’s not about the mile time or distance, but how you feel.”

The Boston Marathon was first held in 1897.