LHS XC coaches Bauman, Jackson compete at Boston Marathon

Jun. 17—Logansport High School cross country coaches Kailin Bauman and Cole Jackson both practice what they preach.

Not only do they coach distance running, they go the extra mile when it comes to their own running lifestyles.

They both competed at the 127th Boston Marathon on April 17.

They went as a group to Boston, Bauman with her husband, Bill, and Jackson with his wife, Abby, and his college roommate and former fellow co-captain of the Manchester University cross country team, Alec Womboldt.

They embarked on Boston with different goals and mindsets, and it was an emotional experience for both Bauman and Jackson.

This year marked the 10-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. It was in 2013 when brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, which detonated near the finish line of the race 14 seconds and 210 yards apart. Three people were killed and hundreds were injured, including 17 who lost limbs.

Jackson was in attendance as a spectator when the bombing occurred 10 years ago. He said he was lucky his friends completed the race fast that day or he would have been near where the bombs went off.

"Ten years ago I was there as a spectator at the finish line and me and my friend walked back to our hotel, and less than 45 minutes later the whole city was going crazy," he said.

Jackson said he was unsure how he would feel going back. It was his first time in the city since the bombing. He said it was an emotional experience for him.

"I didn't know that it would be, because it's been 10 years," he said. "But I was showing my wife — because they have a monument where the bomb went off — and I was like 'here's where it was.' Then I walked down one block and I was like 'this is where I was standing.'

"I just happened to have very fast friends that day and we were able to kind of just walk away from it all. I didn't see or even hear the explosion but I definitely saw a wall of people scrambling the get the hell out of there and they shut the city down so we couldn't even get out. I wound up sitting in a hotel with a complete stranger for seven hours because we couldn't get on the subway or get a taxi or anything. It was a humbling experience to go back and also really closure to come back and have such a wonderful experience after having such a terribly negative experience the last time, and to do it with my wife and very close friends of mine."

Jackson added he had an inspired run. He completed the 26.2-mile course in a time of 2:49.35.

"So to come back all those years later as a participant and not only run and complete it, but run the best time I've done in a marathon was a really tremendous experience for me," he said.

He added it took a lot of preparation.

"I've been working towards it for about two years because you have to run a marathon fast enough for the privilege of applying to get into the Boston Marathon," he said. "So I had to train all last year and run a marathon in Duluth, Minnesota last June and then I could apply to get to Boston and I had to wait six months to hear back whether or not they were going to let me in. They did and then you have to spend another six, seven months training towards it. So it was a lot, at least 90 minutes a day for two years."

Jackson, 34, who teaches seventh grade social studies at Logansport Junior High School, said it was his third-ever marathon and maybe last.

"That remains to be determined. I'm not really sure," he said. "That was kind of like the last real mountain to climb. But I imagine I'll get the itch to do it again. But maybe not Boston itself, it's such an expensive and it's a whole ordeal to get in there. Maybe some smaller, faster races, I could do that maybe, but I feel like I'm getting on the wrong side of 35 to be spending a lot of time towards that. But I might do one or two here and there."

While Jackson covered the course as fast as he possibly could, Bauman had a different mindset going in.

"I decided early on that I wanted to enjoy it from the start line to the finish line, so I didn't put pressure on time goals or anything like that," she said. "I just high-fived as many people as I could high-five and I talked to people on the course and I met people and runners from all over the world. Before and after it gets really hectic, having run my only two marathons in Indiana, compared to Boston it was a wild experience. There were a lot of people and a lot of logistics. But from the start line to the finish line it was everything everybody says it would be."

Bauman ran a time of 3:36.01.

"It was the most incredible race I've ever run," she said. "From the start line to the finish line it was the most magical experience. It was everything everyone says it would be. It rained, it was a little chilly, it was windy. The race went well."

Bauman and Jackson both graduated from Manchester University in 2012 but never crossed paths with each other in college and didn't meet until they both became cross country coaches at LHS. Jackson is a Logansport grad while Bauman went to high school at Fort Wayne South Side.

Bauman, 33, the wellness director at Steinman Construction in Logansport, actually got a late start in running.

"I started running my senior year of college," she said. "I was in a marketing class and we were putting on a 5K to raise some money. That was in 2012 and I was asking all my friends and family to do it knowing full well that I couldn't complete a 5K. So my roommate at the time and I started training for a 5K and really my love of running kind of took off from there.

"After college I moved to Logansport and met and became involved with the running community. That turned into half marathons and there's a really good group that I went to the Howl ultramarathon for a couple years. Then 2017 I decided to run my first marathon which was monumental and I did really well for a first-time marathoner and actually qualified for Boston at that event. Then in October of 2018 I had to have labral repairs to my hips so I was not running for a couple months following those surgeries. But just being surrounded by the running community and having the support of my friends who also do marathons, I just decided after those surgeries that I wanted to train and run and try to do Boston. It's a marathon that's full of history and it's just special. It's one of the pinnacles of running and I just decided that if I didn't give it a try now I would regret it."

Bauman added she trained hard to prepare.

"We have a really, really wonderful running community in Logansport and Cass County," she said. "I just spent a lot of miles in the winter because it's the offseason. The cross country season usually ends at the beginning of October and marathon training starts about middle of December for both Carmel and Boston and lots of times you're out in the negative degree weather, snow, sometimes on the treadmill when it warranted it. I did a good mix of strength training with it this year to make sure my body stayed strong through asking all the mileage of it. I really stayed steady around 40-50 miles a week with working full time. It was a long training cycle. It lasted about 16 weeks."

Bauman plans to continue running marathons.

"I absolutely want to do more marathons. I love the distance, I love the training and the dedication that it takes to go that far. I love the community. I'll be honest with you, I don't know if I need to do Boston again, it's a whole experience and it really takes a lot to dedicate that time for a traveling marathon. I would love to do Chicago one day. I had a really great experience at Carmel so I would do that one again. But I think I have a lot more time to shave off in me so I would love to do a few more."

Both coaches have talented distance runners coming up for the Berries.

"We have a really young team," Bauman said. "This year all of our girls were either freshmen or sophomores, so we have all of them returning this upcoming season. We have a lot of heart and a lot of dedication. All the girls that were sophomores this year cut time drastically through the course of the year."

The Logansport boys team will have a lot back from a team that advanced to the Culver Academies Regional last fall.

"I'm pretty excited about it," Jackson said. "We've had a very young team for awhile and they're finally aging into upperclassmen. So I'm going to be getting them at their peak high school ability, which is awesome. So I'll have a large number of juniors this next season."

The coaches talk the talk but also walk the walk when it comes to distance running. The Boston Marathon will always be a special event to both.

"It was a really exciting experience and a great one to be able to share," Bauman said.