From a half mile run to a gas station to a 26.2 mile race, Justin Gillette has grown tremendously throughout the years.
” When I first started running is when I ran a half mile to a gas station to get a donut.”
Gillette had many instances that made him who he is today as a marathon runner, and also made him a legend in marathoning.
On February 14, 1996 when Gillette was 16 years old he ran his first marathon, he got inspired in gym class when he was the third person in gym class to finish the mile. And the first person to finish the mile he didn’t really like, so he trained in secret and that when he fell in love with running, which also inspired him to do marathons. But he didn’t know then that he was going to be 5th in the world for the most wins.
A few years later he was doing lots of training and races and was racing back to back 26.2 mile races . Which means Gillette was running about 115 miles every week. But with that much running their had to be injures that come along with that. One incident was when Gillette was on a treadmill and it keep stopping and after he was done it definitely took a toll on his legs. But nothing could hold him back when he was at the top of his career. He just had to remember “If you want something bad enough you have to work through the good and bad times”Gillette said.
After he had kids, he had a hard time getting back on track since he had a lot more important things going on. One of the more important things going on is his in laws health , including his sister in law dying and his mother and law getting sick. And his kids ,”hurts to be away from home when traveling” says Gillette because being away from his kids .And obviously getting older takes a tool on everyone. But even though he hasn’t been training as much he still is ravin and doing amazing still.