Greg Puckett has run over 30 marathons & he’s only just getting started: “I don’t see it stopping”
Subscribe to our newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.His decision to pound the pavement was supposed to be a means to an end. “I immediately thought, ‘OK, here’s the plan: I’m going to tell her ‘yes,’ and then get to spend time with her outside of the classroom,'” he said. “Then I thought I was going to drop out, because there’s no way I can run 13 miles.”But as it turns out, Puckett did run those 13 miles.
When he crossed the finish line, there was one prevailing thought in his head: he wanted to run 26. He first ran the Chicago Marathon in 2010, and in his words, “hasn’t stopped running since.” That includes his experience at the Chicago Marathon in 2021, when he walked the course after breaking three vertebrae.“It was my slowest time ever, but also one of the most gratifying and emotional marathons I’ve ever run,” he said.These days, Puckett is an ardent marathoner.
Now a vice principal in Bentonville, a picturesque city in the midst of the Ozarks mountains, he’s run 31 marathons over the last 14 years.
His most recent race was the 2023 New York City Marathon, in which he ran as part of Team TCS, a national group of educators who participate in marathons together. With the spring running season upon us, Queerty recently caught up with Puckett to talk about his running playlist, life as an out gay educator in Arkansas and his wild marathon experience in New Orleans.
