Pace Bunny Aiming for the Moon - Endurance Event Productions

Derek Lai will be running the Georgina Spring Fling as a pace bunny for half marathoners who are looking for a 1:50 finish time. His is a remarkable story of turning to running in 2019 to manage his weight and becoming a Boston Qualifier at the Georgina Marathon in 2021.

He shared his story with us.

“Although I was very successful in my career and built my structural engineering firm, at age 43 I was over-weight at 210 lbs. In July 2019 I decided to do something about it and made a lifestyle change to my diet. My weight dropped to 195 lbs by Oct. 2019, but it wouldn’t move anymore. I joined a gym and started running only one to two miles a few times a week, but soon Covid shut everything down. At that time, I was 185 lb. I start running outside in March 2020 and six months later ran my first virtual marathon on a track with a time of 4:27.”

Derek chasing down his Boston Qualifier at the Georgina Marathon.

“Training to run a BQ will automatically put you in shape! I dropped to 160 lbs by May 2021 and have since stay there. The key is consistency – plus don’t get hurt, join run groups and connect with like-minded people. During the peak of my training, I was able to run 150km/week. In the last 12 months, I ran 4,800km, averaging 400km/month. I am just a normal guy that ran from obese to fitness and dropped 50 lbs in two years! Many people have told me I inspired them by posting my run and stories on Strava.”

My wife is ALSO a BQ’er, we will be completing all three USA majors this year. Our goal is to complete all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. I started out dreaming about qualifying for Boston and it has since become a reality. There is no dream that is too big.