Readers Say

Eric Tucker is ‘chasing the Boston Athletic Association’s unicorn’

"I cannot wait to make new marathon memories in Boston."

Eric Tucker is running Boston as part of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge team.

March 14, 2022

1 minute to read

In our “Why I’m Running” series, Boston Marathon runners share what’s inspiring them to make the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston. If you’re running the marathon, you can share your story here.

Christine Shearman is running Boston for ‘a brave, creative, and beautiful girl’

Name: Eric Tucker
Age: 52
From: Edmond, Okla.

I’ve been chasing the BAA unicorn for months now. When I received the email welcoming me to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team, I was mostly ecstatic about the chance to run the historic Boston Marathon. Today, I’m just as enthused about fundraising to find a cure for cancer.

I’ll be running in memory of my dad, Hugh Tucker, who died of esophageal cancer in 2017, and in honor of several friends and friends’ children who are battling cancer now. This will be my eighth marathon and my first outside of Oklahoma. For the past decade, I’ve run the full or half in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in memory of a friend of a friend, Lucio Aleman Jr., a 33-year-old safety engineer and married father of two who was among the 168 killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

After every race, I wear my finish medal to the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum (memorialmuseum.com) to pause, pray and remember. A field of 168 empty chairs lies within the footprint of the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building; each chair etched with a name of a victim.

I cannot wait to make new marathon memories in Boston, from giving a high-five to the Johnny Kelley statue on Heartbreak Hill to crossing the blue-and-gold finish line at the Boston Public Library and circling back to pay respects at the 2013 Boston Bombing memorial. I’ve been chasing the Boston Athletic Association’s unicorn for months now — ever since I caught a whiff of the possible opportunity of running.

I’ve logged hundreds of miles in Oklahoma, where the wind, too many days than I’d prefer, came “sweeping down the plain.” This is just my kind of runner’s high!

Editor’s note: This entry may have been lightly edited for clarity or grammar.