Darien's Heather Knight Pech Among Boston Marathon Age Winners

DARIEN, CT — The recently completed 2018 Boston Marathon may be history, but for Darien runner Heather Knight Pech, it will be one that she'll remember forever.

Pech, 56, won her age division (55-59) by 7 minutes and 11 seconds with an overall time of 3 hours, 10 minutes and 15 seconds. She even would have won the division below her (50-54) by more than 3 minutes.

She has run the famous race every year since 2011, and she managed to set a personal record with her 2018 time despite the rainy, windy conditions. Her time placed her in the top 2 percent of all female runners and top 13 percent of all runners.

While she had a few choice words for Mother Nature for serving up such a difficult day, Pech is proud of how the field performed in the rough weather (where wind gusts exceeded 40 mph).

"We marathoners 'showed up' and did what we do, hard things!" Pech told Patch, adding that she is extremely grateful to the race organizers, volunteers, family, friends, medics, police and others who made this year's marathon such a wonderful experience.

An off/on runner since high school, Pech didn't begin seriously training until her 40s following the sudden death of her father, who passed away while running.

"When I retired in 2012, I took my training to a whole new level going from 50 miles per week to what is now 95 miles per week," she said, adding that she has now run nine marathons overall. "I ran over 4,800 miles last year."

She trains with a large community of running friends, and she coaches middle and high school runners - and adults - who strive to be their best.

Photo: Darien's Heather Knight Pech, right, receives her award from Amby Burfoot (Winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon). Photo credit: Boston Athletic Association

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