By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
People rarely get it right on the first run. Great Bend High School graduate Eric Vazquez literally did just that. In his first-ever marathon Sunday in Chicago, Vazquez finished 27th overall out of some 47,000 men and women runners (25th overall in men). By finishing faster than two hours, 18 minutes, he also met the U.S. Olympic qualifying standard.
"For this marathon, I just wanted to have fun," Vazquez said. "It's crazy to say that when you're running 26.2 (miles). I just wanted to have fun when I started it. A few weeks into my build, I thought maybe I could break the 2:20 mark."
Vazquez was part of a world-record event as Kenyon Kelvin Kitpum drew the human race closer to the once impossible two-hour marathon by winning in two hours and 35 seconds. Since 2014, just three men have finished faster than two hours and three minutes.
Vazquez, who will turn 25 years old in January, got his start as a runner in the seventh grade. With no cross country at Great Bend Middle School, he also wrestled and played football. As a self-described unathletic kid, he liked the individual challenge of running.
"It's one of those sports where you get exactly out of it what you put into it," he said. "Getting to see my ability as a runner and a competitor improve over the years was great. No one could tell me you can't do this."
Vazquez ran 88th at the state cross country meet as a freshman, then helped the Panther 4x800m relay team finish 13th at state later that year. He qualified for three state cross country meets, peaking with an 11th-place finish his senior year. He helped the Panther 4x800m team win three state medals, including the silver medal his senior season. He led off the relay that year and the Panthers had a sizeable lead into the final two laps before Blue Valley Southwest stole the gold by 0.19 seconds.
After graduating from GBHS in 2017, Vazquez ran for the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, earning All-American status every season. He was part of a distance medley relay national title team, earned All-American honors in the mile, and was part of a national runner-up team at cross country nationals.
Vazquez double majored in mathematics and chemistry, graduating from St. Marys in 2021. And he never stopped running. Last year, he moved to Chicago to continue his education at Northwestern University. He joined the Second City Track Club filled with like-minded runners who enjoy the personal side of the sport.
"It's a great way to push myself, to see the limits of what I can do," he said. "In today's day and age, when you do some hard work it's hard to maybe get the results you want in the corporate or academic world. In the running world, I can attempt to at least control what I can from the work I put into it. The results I get out are just amazing."
As part of the buildup to Sunday's Chicago Marathon, Vazquez ran two half marathons in the past calendar year. Even with no racing experience beyond those 13 miles, he began to eye the U.S. Olympic qualifying standard of 2:18, which was a minute faster than the standard for the 2020 Olympics. He went out with his team, and after crossing the midway point around 69 minutes Sunday, he knew he might be able to beat the standard by a second or two.
"At that point, I thought maybe I could start to squeeze like a toothpaste tube," he said. "Start squeezing from the bottom up on the pace."
Vazquez needed to keep a pace of one mile every five minutes, 16 seconds to meet the standard. By finishing in 2:17.04, he beat the standard by 56 seconds.
"I felt like the entire time I was going to hit the standard," he said. "I don't think there was a single moment where I doubted my ability to do it. Running a 2:18 marathon is pretty hard. I think my final pace was 5:13 average, which is kind of crazy for me to think."
Vazquez was still feeling the effects of 26.2 miles of hard running the day after the marathon but said the recovery has been quick.
"My legs are feeling a bit heavy, but I do think they’re in better shape than most people post-marathon," he said. "I’m in a training program where we emphasize running through the fatigue and I think it has helped with the day after. But walking back to the American Development Program tent afterward was over a half-mile walk and it was nearly harder than the race itself."
By meeting the standard, Vazquez automatically qualifies for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Orlando on February 3, 2024. The top six finishers in that race would make the U.S. Olympics team but will also have to meet the world standard of 2:08.10 to compete in Paris later that summer. Just three Americans have met the world standard so far this year.
"I don't think I'll quite be in the top six," Vazquez said, "but I just want to go out and see how I can lineup against some of the best marathoners in the United States."
Vazquez currently lives in Lawrence where he is seeking his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Kansas. Once complete, he hopes to share his knowledge as a teacher