{"id":80242,"date":"2016-09-26T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=80242"},"modified":"2016-09-27T07:55:07","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T12:55:07","slug":"perseverance-hard-work-made-vwhs-grad-pro-runner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2016\/09\/26\/perseverance-hard-work-made-vwhs-grad-pro-runner\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard work leads to pro running career"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Craig Leon, who returns to his hometown this week to be grand marshal of this year\u2019s Van Wert High School football homecoming parade, is the epitome of perseverance.<\/p>\n

\"Van
Van Wert native and professional marathoner Craig Leon shown winning a marathon.<\/strong> (photo submitted)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Leon, a 2003 VWHS graduate who readily acknowledges he wasn\u2019t even the fastest runner on his high school cross country team, hard work and a positive mental outlook has led him to a career as a professional marathoner.<\/p>\n

Leon has always been a distance runner, but didn\u2019t start running marathons until he was out of college. He began his running career at VWHS under coaches Kevin McGonagle (cross country) and Quinn White (track) and says both helped him build the mental attitude that has led to his success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think about some of the things they taught me,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

Although a competent runner at VWHS, Leon wasn\u2019t good enough to earn an athletic scholarship to his college of choice: Ohio University, which had the sports marketing degree program he was seeking. Fortunately, OU running coach Mitch Bentley allowed Leon to compete as a \u201cwalk on\u201d — something he said somewhat seriously he lived to regret, since the training regimen at OU included running long distances every day of the week.<\/p>\n

Following graduation from OU, Leon set his sights even higher: to become a professional runner, a marathoner.<\/p>\n

In essence, the VWHS grad had to again become a \u201cwalk on\u201d, more or less, since he wasn\u2019t quite good enough in college to earn a professional running contract right out of school.<\/p>\n

The goal was particularly lofty, since Leon had never run a marathon at that time and had no clue how to train to run one. It was just another challenge, though, for a guy who lives for challenges, and he developed a training regimen while working several jobs to pay the rent and put food on the table.<\/p>\n

His big break came when he won his first-ever marathon in Eugene, Oregon, \u201cTrack Town USA\u201d, where he now lives and trains. He also qualified for the 2012 Olympic marathon trials.<\/p>\n

In the last few years, Leon has had several top 10 and top 15 finishes in world-class marathons. That includes finishing eighth in last year\u2019s New York City Marathon, 10th and 12th in the 2013 and 2014 Boston Marathons, respectively, and a 15th place finish in the Chicago Marathon.<\/p>\n

In 2013, he became only the second American in a decade to have two top-15 finishes in world-class marathons.<\/p>\n

Although he again qualified for the 2016 Olympic marathon trials, he said he was disappointed with his finish, \u201cin the 20s,\u201d after several top finishes against world-class competition during the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kind of pick yourself up,\u201d Leon said of his response, with a commitment to improve in a sport he has come to love.<\/p>\n

Today, at 32, he is taking it a year at a time, while working hard and hoping to improve on his times — and to again finish well in some world-class marathons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what I love about running, this constant evolution, and this chance to kind of get better,\u201d Leon said during a 2015 speaking stint at Van Wert Rotary Club.<\/p>\n

Leon\u00a0now has a professional running contract, but unlike many runners, manages himself without an agent, using the sports marketing skills he learned in college. He also teaches a sports marketing class at the University of Oregon to earn additional income.<\/p>\n

Unlike his early days, Leon now goes first-class at world-class\u00a0marathons: staying in top hotels and being chauffeured to race sites in a chartered bus. But the unassuming Van Wert native appreciates those perks, especially since he knows what it\u2019s like to be one of the non-professional runners who compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can relate to the person who is in the middle of the pack, because I was that person,\u201d Leon says.<\/p>\n

He also said he is honored and humbled to be asked to be the grand marshal for the VWHS Homecoming Parade, adding that he hopes his story\u00a0can inspire other students to take risks to do what they love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Craig Leon, who returns to his hometown this week to be grand marshal of this year\u2019s Van Wert High School football homecoming parade, is the epitome of perseverance. For Leon, a 2003 VWHS graduate who readily acknowledges he wasn\u2019t even the fastest runner on his high school cross country team, hard work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 17:06:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}