By SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
NEWTON, Kan. — Kayla Straub will be back at the starting line of the Boston Marathon on Monday morning.
The Newton native is set to run in the 130th Boston Marathon for the second time, starting in Wave 3 at 10:28 a.m. EDT (9:28 CDT), from Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
Straub ran Boston for the first time in 2023, finishing in 3 hours, 32 minutes, 30 seconds. This time, she returns with a deeper appreciation for the race, a longer list of accomplishments and the kind of perspective that only comes from knowing what it took just to get there in the first place.
For Straub, Boston was never just another race.
It was the first major goal she set after taking up running later in life, and it took longer than she expected.
“When I went in 2023, it was just kind of emotional for me,” Straub said. “It’s just been an inspiring place for me because of women and running and all the events that happened there. It was also my first running goal I ever set, to be able to qualify for Boston.”
That pursuit came with plenty of frustration.
Straub said she missed the Boston qualifying standard six times before finally breaking through. For women in her age group, the listed standard was 3 hours, 30 minutes, but that number alone does not guarantee entry. Because Boston caps its field, runners often need to beat the standard by a larger margin to secure a spot.
So when Straub finally made it to Boston in 2023, the result mattered, but the journey mattered more.
Now, she heads back to Hopkinton not as someone still trying to prove she belongs, but as a runner who has already been there, already experienced the course and already knows why it holds such a special place in the sport.
She still respects what Boston asks of a runner. She also knows it is different than most races.
“It’s a hard course,” Straub said. “You’ve got to respect this course.”
Straub said her marathon personal best is 3:08, and if Monday goes well, she would love to challenge that mark.
“So my personal best marathon is a 3:08, so if I can get above that and be able to use some of this Boston energy to break that, I would be out of this world happy,” Straub said. “My next biggest goal is just have fun. Take it in. Make memories.”
That combination of competitiveness and perspective fits Straub’s story.
She has run roughly 13 marathons, including Boston and Chicago, but much of her reputation has been built well beyond 26.2 miles.
Straub has become one of Kansas’ most accomplished ultrarunners, building a résumé that includes numerous women’s division wins and several overall titles in races ranging from 50 kilometers to 100 miles and beyond. By her own estimate, she has completed about 16 ultramarathons, and she said that is where she is better known.
“I’m more known for just because I’m sitting right now kind of top in the nation, and lots of state records always broken there,” Straub said. “I feel like I’ve got the endurance piece down. I’m working on the speed part.”
Her recent results back that up.
On March 28, Straub won the Prairie Spirit Trail 50 Miler in Ottawa in 6:31:16, a performance celebrated as a new Kansas all-time female record for the distance. Earlier this year, she also posted a 3:13:43 at the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth, Texas.
Her résumé includes strong finishes at 100-mile races such as Brazos Bend, Hawk Hundred, Heartland, Kansas Rails-to-Trails and Honey Badger, plus wins or top women’s finishes in events like Lazy A Backyard Ultra, Prairie Spirit Trail and Psycho Wyco. She has raced everywhere from Kansas and Missouri to Texas, Arizona and Colorado, and her versatility has become one of the defining parts of her running career.
Straub said major marathons carry a different feeling than almost anything else in the sport.
“When you show up to a world event, it’s just a different place,” Straub said. “You’ve got 30,000 people from all nationalities, all backgrounds, all gender, sizes, ages. It doesn’t matter. You can feel that energy when you’re there. It’s just unity.”
That atmosphere is one reason she has bigger long-term goals still ahead.
Straub said when she first started running, she wanted to become a six-star finisher by completing all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors: Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin, Tokyo and London.
She has already checked off Boston and Chicago. The rest remain on her list.
Some of those races are not easy to get into, even for fast runners. Straub said she recently submitted a 3:11 marathon in hopes of earning entry into New York, only to have the time-based application rejected because the cutoff ended up being faster.
For Straub, it was disappointing, but not discouraging.
“I’m working on it,” she said. “I’ll get there.”
Straub did not come to running through the usual route. She did not grow up as a standout distance runner. She did not spend years climbing the youth and college pipeline.
She started in her late 20s, after going through a separation.
Running became an outlet first, long before it became a passion or a source of competitive success.
“Running for me was kind of after I went through a separation in my very late 20s,” Straub said. “I picked up running. I was never physically fit or anything like that, so pick it up midlife, and kind of fell in love with it.”
Asked whether that period of life shaped what running became for her, Straub did not hesitate.
“Absolutely,” she said. “It was just kind of an outlet and time for me to just, a place for me to process.”
That background still shows up in the way she talks about the sport.
Straub said she sometimes wonders what might have happened if she had started younger, but she does not spend much time on it. If anything, she believes the life experience she carried into running may have helped her once she got there.
“I sometimes think about that, but then also think maybe the life experiences gave me just a little bit of edge where I’m at as well,” Straub said. “Running is very mental too, so it’s like, I don’t know. Maybe physically, I could have had more speed, but mentally, I feel like whatever things I’ve gone through in life, running just kind of mimics it. It’s like, yeah, you can get through this too.”
That mentality has helped her settle into races that ask a lot, especially ultras, where the mental side can be just as important as the physical.
Straub said her training volume reflects that background. She typically runs between 100 and 120 miles per week, mileage that is built less for a traditional road marathon cycle and more for the 100-mile and 200-mile races she loves most.
“Boston, to me, is more just an experience race,” Straub said. “I hope to set a PR and all that kind of stuff. But I’m more of an ultra marathoner. I love 100, 200-mile races in the mountains.”
That does not mean she treats Boston casually. It just means she approaches it from a different place than many runners.
She said she feels fit, prepared and ready to enjoy the day.
And for Straub, Boston is a race worth enjoying.
She remembers the first trip in 2023 as both emotional and chaotic. Like many runners, she had to navigate the complicated logistics that come with race weekend in Boston, from the expo to transportation to the buses that take runners to Hopkinton. This year, she said she and her family are staying about eight miles from the start because they are traveling on a budget, which makes organization even more important.
“Sunday night feels more chaotic because it’s like, OK, do we have everything?” Straub said. “You can’t really bring your own car, because you’re not going to get to the start line on time, so you’ve got to just make sure you’re super organized and super ready.”
She and her mother are flew out Saturday morning. Straub said they hope to spend some time Sunday at the expo and explore a little of the city before Monday’s race, then head home Tuesday.
Her mother’s presence is another important part of the story.
Straub said her mom usually attends races whenever she can, and Boston is no exception. In 2023, she stood out in cold, wet weather with Straub’s children to cheer her on during a miserable race day.
Straub still remembers hearing one voice in the middle of the crowd.
“It means the world to me that she’s willing to go,” Straub said.
She is hoping for better conditions this time.
Straub said she prefers cooler race weather, and Monday’s forecast, with temperatures in the low to mid-40s around the start, looks close to ideal.
“Race weather anywhere from above freezing to 55, and I’m happy,” she said.
The Boston course itself is rarely easy, but the crowd can make it feel that way.
Straub said one of the things that stood out most during her first Boston was how the spectators never seemed to disappear. Kids lined the course, fans packed the streets and the energy never really let up.
“You’ve just got kids just lining 26 full mile, like the crowds never end,” Straub said. “I was just having so much fun interacting with them.”
She remembers taking orange slices from kids along the route. She remembers the constant noise. She remembers how the energy built over the final miles, especially after the turn onto Boylston Street.
That part, she said, is hard to explain until you have felt it.
“That whole last couple miles is just the energy is out of this world,” Straub said. “If you’re struggling, you’re not anymore. I don’t care who you are. That energy is so loud, and you can feel it physically.”
For a runner who has completed races that last all day and, in some cases, into the next, Boston offers a different kind of challenge. It is shorter, faster and more public. It asks for patience early and toughness late. It is a race where time matters, but so does discipline.
Straub said when she is at her best, her focus narrows.
“My best runs, and usually when I’m going to break my own PR territory, I’m just, it’s almost kind of blank,” Straub said. “I’m just really paying attention to how my body’s feeling. I’m just listening to my breathing. It’s just kind of the sounds. I notice my gait, how my foot is striking. I’m really just in tune to my body.”
When things get hard, she simplifies it.
If there is another runner ahead, she locks onto that runner. If there is not, she picks a tree or another point down the road and gets there first. Then she does it again.
From Newton to Chicago. From Kansas trail ultras to 100-milers. From missing Boston six times to returning for a second trip.
Now, Monday morning, it takes her back to the Bay State.
She will step into a field filled with thousands of runners from around the world. She will once again take the bus to the start. She will once again make the long trip through the Boston suburbs toward the finish line on Boylston Street.
And somewhere in the middle of all that noise, all that tradition and all that history, Straub will be doing what she has done for years now.
Settling in. Finding the rhythm. Chasing the next point down the road.