by Kasen Stephensen

A marathon is 26.2 miles and takes a novice runner around 5 hours to complete.  In her first ever marathon, Jordan Hasay took 2 hours and 23 minutes and destroyed the U.S. American debut record by three minutes.

Hasay exhibited greatness even before high school, setting the USATF Junior Olympics Youth record in the 1500 meter run at the age of 13.  She performed outstanding all throughout high school and was pictured on the cover of Track and Field News magazine. 

She competed at the University of Oregon and earned 18 All-American honors as well as the mile and 3,000 meter NCAA titles in 2011.

The Boston Marathon was an important event for Hasay, as her mother and number-one fan passed away last November.  Hasay said in a pre-race press conference that, “She’ll be with me,” and wore her mother’s engagement ring in her honor during the race.