Bethel teacher runs Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is generally thought of as the Super Bowl for long distance runners. Just getting an invitation to the race is a feat in its own right. Only about four percent of all marathoners in a given year even qualify for Boston, and many runners spend their entire lives chasing the dream.

Or, if you’re Bethel teacher Abigail Shelly, you decide you’d like to run a marathon and qualify for Boston on your first race.

Shelly, a Multi Lingual Education teacher who divides her time between Cougar Mountain and Bethel Middle, first began thinking about training for a marathon a few years ago.

“You know what, if I’m going to train for a marathon, I might as well try to go for Boston,” she said.

Shelly ran her first marathon in Virginia Beach in 3 hours and 24 minutes, which was good enough to qualify for Boston. It was an impressive achievement, but not entirely out of character for Shelly, who is a very accomplished runner. She was an All-American triathlete in college and currently teaches track and field and cross country here in Bethel.

By the time she made it to Boston for the marathon in April, she felt prepared and excited.

“It truly was amazing,” she said.

“People are lining the street the entire way, so for about three hours

I had people cheering for me the whole time. That was the magic of it.”

Shelly completed the marathon in 3 hours and 17 minutes.

She said there are many parallels between long distance running and teaching, and many of the lessons she’s learned while training are applicable to her classroom.

“A lot of the work we do is in the dark and behind the scenes, but it can be and it is worth it, as long as you give yourself the respect you deserve. There were many dark nights on the track when I just took some moments to say, ‘you know what, Abigail, I’m very proud of you,’" she said.