Mercer County superintendent Jason Booher is a Carrollton bus crash survivor and uses his running to bring awareness to what happened. (Hilary Booher Photo)
Mercer County superintendent Jason Booher is a unique individual. He’s a survivor of the Carrollton bus crash in 1988 on Interstate 71 in Carroll county that killed 27 of the 67 people on the bus that was hit by an alcohol-impaired driver. He never misses a chance to continue to raise awareness about what happened then.
He’s also been a successful high school basketball coach as he led Shelby Valley to the All “A” state championship and Sweet 16 state championship in 2010. That remains the only time a school has won both championships in the same season. He also won a 9th Region championship in 2013 at Holmes High School.
He was assistant principal and athletics director at Pikeville from 2014-18 before taking over as principal before he became superintendent at Mercer in 2021.
I also know Booher, who turns 49 in June, was a runner. What I didn’t know was just how dedicated he is to running and how successful he has been.
He completed the Boston Marathon for the second time Monday in a time of 3 hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds. That was a 7:32 pace for the 26.2 miles on the hilly, historic course.
“That’s a lot faster than when I started five years ago. I used to hope to just break four hours (in a marathon),” Booher said. “I thought there was no way I could ever qualify for Boston (3 hours, 20 minutes is the qualifying time) , much less shave 40 minutes off that four-hour time.”
He walked around Boston Tuesday with his wife, Hilary, before flying back to Kentucky so he could be at work Wednesday.
“I was a little sore,” he said. “The worst part is going up and down stairs for a few days after a marathon. Last year was my first time doing Boston and I did not realize how hilly it was and did not train as much as I should have on hills and had to slow down the last six miles. I trained a lot on hills this year.”
His training regimen would not be for everyone. He normally gets up at 5 a.m. to run Monday through Thursday and then he also runs on Saturday morning.
“I run before everybody else gets out of bed,” he laughed and said. “I get caught up on my sleep on Fridays when I sleep in until 6:30. But I have always been an early riser. I have never been one to sleep past 7, so getting up at 5 is not that bad.”
He normally runs with Danville physician Ryan Turpin who actually runs at an even faster pace than Booher.
“He pushes me. He is running the Louisville Derby (marathon) in two weekends and he will run Boston with me in two years,” Booher said.
Booher admits some people he works with look at him like he’s “crazy” when he tells them he is running 26.2 miles.
“But I am just hoping through all this I can inspire others to do things they never thought they could do and raise awareness and consciousness about drinking and driving,” Booher said.
When he was coaching, he never ran over three miles because he just didn’t have the time to train. He also normally avoids 5K (3.1-mile) events because those are too “speed” oriented for him.
Jason Booher, left, finished his second Boston Marathon Monday. (Hilary Booher Photo)
“I am just afraid I will try to go too much faster and pull a hamstring. I am so competitive I would try to stay up with those young kids and probably hurt myself,” he said.
Those “young” kids likely could not keep up with him in marathons. He’s close to being that rare runner who completes the “Six Star Marathons.” He’s already done Boston, New York and Chicago as well as Berlin and London. The only one left is Tokyo and he’s scheduled to check that box on March 5.
“My wife goes everywhere with me on these marathon outings. She does a great job supporting me,” he said. “My buddies from Pikeville and their wives have been to the other five majors with me. We make it fun.”
The Mercer superintendent will have a new “adventure” in a few weeks when he does his first Ironman in July in Sandusky, Ohio. This will not be a “full” Ironman but participants still face a 1.2-mile swim in Lake Erie, 56-mile bike ride through rural farmland roads and a 13.1-mile run through historic downtown Sandusky.
“I love swimming. Bicycling not so much. I don’t like being on that seat for so long,” Booher said. “But I’ve always wanted to try one of these, so we’ll see what happens.”
One Response
Love these kind of stories, thanks Larry.