Raquel Stucky’s love for running leads to elite finish at Boston Marathon

The significance of what she had done at the Boston Marathon was lost upon Raquel Stucky until her phone and social media accounts started buzzing later that day.

Stucky, a 41-year-old Wichita native who owns First Gear Running Co. in downtown Wichita, completed the 26.2-mile race on April 17 in 2 hours, 45 minutes, 39 seconds, which was the fourth-fastest in the female Masters division and 28th overall in the female field.

To her, it was just another race goal met. She had gone to Boston, competed well, and left with an experience reserved only for the top runners. But then she listened to and read how inspired Wichita runners back home were and it made Stucky smile.

“I’m doing what I love to do and I love to compete and I love the fact that I’m representing Wichita,” Stucky said. “It’s a great running community and it really was an eye-opening experience for me on the impact you have for just doing something that you love to do. My whole desire with this is to teach even my own kids that if you work hard enough you can achieve something.”

Stucky had run faster marathon times. She still holds the state marathon record from the 2014 Prairie Fire Marathon with a time of 2:44:58 and her career-best time came in the 2012 Chicago Marathon in 2:42:08.

She has qualified and run in the last two U.S. Olympic Trials for the marathon, although her race at the 2016 Olympic Trials came to an end at the half-marathon mark when she suffered a stress fracture in her foot. The injury confined Stucky to a walking boot for months and could have been a major setback to her career.

Instead, Stucky adjusted her training regimen and targeted her comeback for the Boston Marathon. For her to return at such an elite level makes her performance in Boston one of the most impressive of her career, coach John Alewine said.

“This is such a great step for her and her Masters racing career,” Alewine said. “You think about all of the people who compete from all over the world and a lot of them come to that race, so for her to come in fourth is very impressive.”

Stucky said she was satisfied with the way she competed in the race.

“I felt very strong the whole entire way,” Stucky said. “I was a little more hesitant on the uphills because I didn’t want to waste energy that I would regret later, but when I look back now I think I could have gave a little more on the uphills. As the race was progressing, I started gauging it by effort level instead of pace. I knew if my effort level was at an 8 or 9, I was still hanging in pretty well.”

Alewine is blown away by how Stucky makes it work to maintain the training required to be an elite runner.

Not only does she have to find time to put in the mileage, but also for rest and recovery. That doesn’t always align with Stucky’s schedule as a store owner and mother to two daughters who are beginning their own running careers.

“She’s still so motivated and I think that’s key for Masters runners,” Alewine said. “A lot of people have been doing it for so long that it’s very hard for them to find the motivation. For her to keep that same motivation and train really hard to better herself, it’s an achievement because what she’s doing right now is very hard to do.”

But to Stucky, running has never been difficult.

It’s a feeling she hopes to keep well after her competitive racing days are over. Right now the end of that race is nowhere in sight.

“As I’ve gotten older, running has become that need,” Stucky said. “It’s time for me to think, it’s time for me to get away, it’s my own time. Even if it is at 5:30 in the morning, it’s still mine. It takes me away. I don’t have a bad run. I don’t ever come back and say, ‘Man, that was not fun.’ I always feel better … about anything. It’s just part of my life and it’s what makes me excited for the next day.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2017 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Raquel Stucky’s love for running leads to elite finish at Boston Marathon."