Senior David Berard headed into the new year with a running start. On Sunday, January 17, he raced his first marathon, a 26-mile long run, the Tri-City Medical Center Carlsbad Marathon. He finished in 2 hours and 51.32 seconds.

The Carlsbad Marathon was once called the San Diego Marathon and is rumored to be the second oldest marathon on the west coast, according to its official website (carlsbadmarathon.com). “It’s one of the only ones that lets people under 18 run it,” said Berard. “So, I thought I might try a marathon to see if I’m good at it.”

“My [cross country] coach helped me train. My goal was to run faster than 2 hours and 55 minutes,” said Berard. Having beat his goal time, he said, “I was pretty happy with it.” He added, “The cut-off [time] was six hours, but I hoped to get well below that.” After the marathon, “I was exhausted,” he said.

Berard started running for UC High’s Cross Country Team during the summer going into freshman year and hasn’t stopped, as he is now in his final year of high school. “It’s just a relaxing activity. I’m not very good at short distance races, but I tend to be really good at long distance,” he said.

Cross Country Coach Gimi McCarthy has been coaching Berard since freshman year and believed that he would do well in the marathon. McCarthy said, “He’s awesome. He’s got a gift. I thought he would get 2:50 [2 hours and 50 minutes]. The kid’s got legs made for this.”

McCarthy helped Berard train with additional runs to succeed in his first marathon. McCarthy said, “We came up with a plan,” which incorporated practice sets ranging from long runs to “intervals at a two-mile pace.” “My coach’s advice was very helpful,” said Berard. Berard explained that marathon training is very similar to a normal cross country season. “It’s basically the same things we do in cross country. I trained every day, but with longer workouts [including] running 10 minutes around the track four times at a fast pace, with five minute slow pace,” said Berard. “I have been running a lot, 85 miles a week, and I ran a 24 mile-long run,” said Berard.

In the days leading up to the marathon, it would have made sense for him to be nervous, but Berard focused on feeling optimistic. “I was sick, but I felt confident that I could finish and hopefully get a good time,” said Berard.

His best time on a 5K, a little bit more than three miles, is 16 minutes and 40 seconds. According to a website about running, the average 5K time for a male aged 17 to 18 is 17 minutes and 20 seconds to 17 minutes and 29 seconds (runbayou.com).