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New Training, Nutrition Regimen Powers Aaron Metler to Fourth St. George Marathon Triumph 18 www.sghealthandwellnessmagazine.com
Aaron Metler never made it onto his collegiate varsity running team. In his first three years at the University of Michigan, he wasn’t fast enough to secure a berth. By the time he was a senior, he’d aged out of eligibility for one of the coveted spots on the team. Though Metler’s athletic achievements don’t appear in the Wolverines’ record books, his legacy here in southern Utah is assured: in the forty-five year history of the St. George Marathon, he’s the only “local” to have crossed the finish line first. Even more significantly, he’s the only competitor who’s broken the tape four times. Growing up in Detroit, running wasn’t yet on Metler’s radar screen. His passion for soccer, baseball, and basketball afforded ample opportunities to sprint around fields and courts. But at five feet tall and seventy-five pounds in high school, he didn’t seem destined to wear a letterman sweater. “I loved sports; starting with youth soccer, I was always outside playing,” Metler recalled. “My dad was a big tennis player and hoped we’d play too. That wasn’t exactly what happened.”
Metler entered UMich with the goal of earning a degree in sports management. In his senior year, he made a serious attempt to become a varsity runner. “The cut was doing a four-mile run in under twenty-one minutes. I did it, and I beat more than half of the team. But the coach only wanted freshmen and sophomores he could develop. He said, ‘You’re a good runner, but you can’t be on the team,’” Metler said, laughing. With no varsity singlet forthcoming, Metler launched a collegiate running club on campus. In short order, the group was competing against—and besting—the
