Belen High School teacher ran in Boston Marathon

BELEN — The smile creeps across Derek Logan’s face when asked about the experience. It is the same smile that was across his face as he crossed the finish line on April 18 as he completed the Boston Marathon.

“At the end, I just decided to slow down and really savor the moment,” Logan said. “This will be one of my most memorable moments in my life.”

Logan, a teacher at Belen High School, finished the race in three hours and 17 minutes. A little off his three hours and one minute that got him qualified for the event.

“I got up to heartbreak hill, which is where a lot of runners struggle,” Logan said of the marathon. “I began to slow down and got frustrated. Then I thought to myself, ‘hey, why not enjoy this?’ And so that’s what I began to do all the way until the finish.”

Logan’s smile says it all, but he wasn’t always into running.

“I hated running as a kid,” Logan said. “I ran track in seventh grade, but hated it. After that, I did tennis in high school. I tried out for basketball and was cut every year.

“I got into recreation leagues of basketball after high school, and was running here and there to stay in shape, but I heard on the radio about the Boston Marathon and thought that would be cool to participate in.”

Later that same day, Logan’s interest really took off.

“A couple of hours later, I heard about the bombing at the Boston Marathon,” Logan said. “That was that same day. So, I had all this pride running through me, and decided that I wanted to run that race.”

That led Logan on a journey of running to qualify for one of the most famous marathons in the world.

“I didn’t know at the time that you had to qualify for Boston,” Logan said. “So, to try to get qualified, that is what has led me on this journey. I became a student of the sport after that.”

For Logan, a lot more has changed because of his running.

“It changed my mind set,” Logan said. “I became an unselfish person. Before running, all I thought was what I wanted to do next. Now, I want to give back to the community. I took the track coaching job over at St. Mary’s School, just to begin helping others in the sport.”

With coaching in mind, Logan hopes helping others in running will bring people together.

“I want to try to get a club going, along with my coaching,” Logan said. “That is something I really want to focus on now. Giving back is the ultimate goal for me, right now.”

For now, Logan can still smile and savor the journey that led him to this point in his life.