Every step Chris Gray runs is a reminder of just how far he’s come.
It didn’t start out that way, it rarely does for amateur distance runners.
In truth, Gray’s venture into marathon running starts out like many others, which is to say the 1995 WVU graduate was approaching 40 and wanted to stay in shape.
By the time he was 50, Gray had reached a milestone that he shares with less than 4,000 people in the United States as an owner of the Six Star Medal.
The medal is awarded to those who compete and finish all six major marathons: New York, Boston, Berlin, London, Chicago and Tokyo.
Gray, the son of former WVU Vice President for Student Affairs Ken Gray, earned his in March after completing the Tokyo Marathon.
“When I look at it, it takes me back to when I first began,” Gray said. “It takes me back to when I first thought about setting this goal for myself. Setting a goal and then actually achieving it, there’s hardly a better feeling than that.”
An added bonus: Gray also became part of the Guinness World Record book that day, as the Tokyo Marathon set the record with 3,033 runners from around the world earning their Six Star Medal in that race.
“The goal” was the last thing on Gray’s mind back in 2011, which is when he first began taking up running at 39. By the time he was 40, he had competed in his first half marathon.
“It really just started with me wanting to stay in shape,” Gray said. “I had just been through a divorce. You know, not being able to be around my kids all the time, that was hard.
“Running kept me focused. It was a stress relief for me. Honestly, at that time in my life, it kept me alive.”
He had grown up an athlete in his Northern Virginia home. Basketball, baseball and soccer where his favorites, but Gray also remembers running in local 5K and 10K runs as a kid. He ran a little bit in high school, throwing out the fact he was able to run a mile in less than six minutes back in the day.
“I was a freshman at WVU in 1990, and I was going to try and play basketball, but it didn’t work out,” Gray said. “I stayed active playing rec sports and those types of things.”
Gray earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at WVU, as well as his ROTC commission. From 1997-2000, he served active duty in the U.S. Army as a Budget Analyst.
The last 23 years, Gray has worked at Booz Allen Hamilton in Springfield, Va., a national consulting firm dealing in cyber defense for Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. military.
And he’s ran … a lot.
“For me, running has changed my life,” Gray said. “Even if you just go out and run for 30 minutes, it helps take all the dark clouds away in your life.”
What started out with Gray competing in local 5K and 10K runs, eventually turned into half marathons.
Once he conquered the half, Gray set his goal to compete in a full 26.2-mile marathon.
“When I first heard of the Six Star Medal, that’s when it really became my goal,” he said.
His training goal is to run 100 miles each month, something he’s accomplished since 2014.
His first major marathon was New York City in 2015, followed by Chicago in 2016, Berlin (2018), London (2019) and Boston in 2021, before completing the adventure in Tokyo in March.
In all, Gray has ran 25 marathons in his life, which covers about the same distance as a drive from Morgantown to Atlanta.
There is talk in the running community that marathons in Australia and South Africa may be added down the road to turn the Six Star Medal into an eight-star one.
If so, Gray will be there.
For now, he’s got another goal in mind: To break 80 on the golf course.
“That one is going to be a real struggle,” Gray said. “Most days, I barely break 100. My best score is 88. I’ve still got a lot of work to do before reaching that goal.”
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