At the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, Luke Puskedra narrowly missed securing a spot on the Rio de Janeiro team with a fourth-place finish in his second fastest time in the event. A year earlier at the Chicago Marathon, Puskedra finished in fifth place and top American in 2:10:24. He represented the U.S. on the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships team and finished 17th in 1:02:46. He has run three half marathons under 1:02:00 and holds a personal best of 1:01:29 from the 2016 Houston Half Marathon. In 2015 he won the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Portland, Oregon. While running for the University of Oregon, Puskedra was an 11-time NCAA Division 1 All-American. He graduated with a degree in Sports Business. This will be Puskedra’s Boston debut. “I’ve always wanted to race the Boston Marathon, because of the marathon tradition of “Marathon Monday,” says Puskedra. “I also wanted to race in Boston because of the great American tradition in distance running with names like Alberto Salazar, Bill Rodgers and Meb.”

Puskedra briefly retired from professional running after making his marathon debut, but decided to return to the sport and has had solid results since then. He is married to wife Trudie and the couple has a daughter, Penelope. Before the 2016 Trials, his daughter was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, but has since made a positive recovery. “Seeing how resilient and tough my daughter and wife were
during this time motivates me to see training as a privilege and to train that much harder.”

“When I think of Boston I think of a tough persona, so #BeBoston to me means getting the job done no matter the circumstances.”