Bethany cross country coach Zac Coulson ran the prestigious Boston Marathon Monday (April 21).

Coulson, 36, finished the famed race in 4:43.51 with an average pace of 10:50 per mile.

Entry into the Boston Marathon is only by timed qualification races. Coulson earned his spot in 2023 with a second-place finish at the Prairie Fire Wichita Fall Marathon.

Coulson’s journey Monday on the famed New England course started well but he soon faced adversity similar to the challenges of the athletes he coaches.

“You prepare as much as you can for a course like this,” Coulson said via phone.

The first three to four miles of the race is mostly downhill and many runners make the mistake of running at a faster pace, Coulson said.

“I backed off. I backed up to about 6:15 which is perfect for me and my first 10K was right on pace I want to go pace-wise.”

With each successive milestone, Coulson’s pace continued to be where he wanted it to be.

His half-marathon pace was 6:33 and by the 25k spot (15.5 miles), he had a pace of 6:49.

The rolling hills of the Boston course provided a challenge just two miles later.

“My quad muscle, right above my knee at about mile 17 1/ 2, just knotted up,” Coulson said. “I usually push through a lot of pain, but I physically could not get my knee up.”

Coulson soldiered on at a walking pace for the next six miles. He stopped at three medical tents to try and get help working out the issue.

“Nothing helped. It just was so flared up.”

One of the famed sections of the Boston Marathon is known as “Heartbreak Hill.” Coulson said his injury occurred just before he reached that section.

“I didn’t really get to experience it cause I walked up ‘Heartbreak Hill’ so that was kind of funny.”

Another weird quirk is that his leg felt better walking up the hill rather than walking down the hill.

Bolstered by the cheering Boston crowd in the last two miles of the race, Coulson was able to finish the race at a faster pace purely on adrenaline.

He was wearing an Oklahoma coaches shirt and people in the crowd we’re referencing it in their cheers.

“They were being genuine. They weren’t just saying it just to say it,” Coulson said.

Despite the injury, Coulson was pleased with the experience.

“I’m just grateful. Not a lot of runners get that experience and the Boston crowd is phenomenal.”

“The experience of doing something that a lot of people hope to do and making it come about, I’m just blessed,” Coulson said. “It didn’t go the way I wanted to, but I’m not gonna let it hold me back from being positive because I still got a medal. I still crossed the finish line.”

When asked what lessons he would take from the experience to share with his athletes, Coulson pointed to being resilient.

” I think the main one is is don’t give up. In running, at some point you’re gonna hit a wall or somethings gonna get tough, but it’s also life. It’s getting knocked down but it’s getting back up,” Coulson said. “I was determined cross the finish line and that’s kind of like life.”

In addition to coaching cross country, which earned him state boys coach of the year honors in 2024, Coulson is an assistant coach with the girls basketball team and is an assistant track coach.

Coulson said it would have been easy to quit the race and stay at the medical tent.

“That’s regret. I would’ve regretted a lot more if I would’ve quit than if I would’ve walked across the finish line.”

Coulson is unsure if he’ll attempt to run the landmark race again, citing the cost and the effort required to train for a race of that caliber.

“Marathon marathon training is exhausting. It’s so much. I’ve had to sacrifice a lot. My wife sacrificed a lot to help me get to this point.”

Coulson didn’t rule out a return but he wanted to recover from the injury.

Unlike some high school sports, running is something an individual can do throughout their life, “no matter their body, no matter what person you are,” Coulson said.

“God gave me a gift to run and I think that it shows with my kids because I love to encourage them. I hope that inspires these kids that who may not like running as a kid or in high school, but when they become young adults that they find it a fun hobby to stay healthy and motivate themselves to get better.”

In the middle of the race, a college student came up to Coulson to encourage him.

“He literally told me in the race, ‘No matter what happens, dude, you’re finishing Boston and no one can say that.’”

“It was pretty cool.”