By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
Medfield resident and vice president of Business Banking at Dedham Savings Bank is someone who takes on any challenge that comes his way. Only ten years ago did Teachout begin his marathon journey after losing 50 pounds at his work’s greatest loser challenge. Now, Teachout has been an inspiration to many as he completed his tenth marathon and his fifth Boston Marathon.
After losing fifty pounds ten years ago, Teachout made it his new commitment to health and fitness. Doing a complete 180 in his lifestyle, Teachout has been actively involved with triathlons, marathons, and an iron man competition. This year, he ran in memory of the tenth anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing.
“My work had the biggest loser competition in which I had lost fifty pounds and I started exercising, in 2012 I ended up running my first marathon. In 2013, was my first Boston Marathon, although I was never able to finish. I got stopped just past Boston College; I was told the race was over because of the bombing at the finish line. I went back to 2014, 2015, and 2017. I got invited back in 2023, and because it was the tenth anniversary, I knew I had to do it again especially because I’m not sure how many more I can do. If I decide not to do another one, I knew this was the perfect way to go out,” said Teachout.
As someone who was running during the Boston Marathon in 2013, Teachout has placed great significance on running this year. Putting age aside, Teachout wanted to be able to finish the race, he accomplished this feat in under six hours, which he is most proud of.
“It was such a unique opportunity for me to run this year, I knew I couldn’t say no to it. It’s funny because I had a lot of pre-race anxiety and I’m not sure why it could’ve been because I hadn’t run Boston in six years. I wasn’t 100 percent sure I was going to finish because the Boston course is so difficult to run. I didn’t have a lot of confidence, but I wanted to believe I did. Just the fact it’s been over a decade, and I can still cross the finish line in under six hours I was so happy I can still do it, that was the best part,” said Teachout.
Teachout encourages anyone in the Medfield community to take our first steps into a healthier lifestyle, as for him it has changed his life for the better.
“I’m a huge proponent for physical fitness, it helps you solve a lot of problems whether it’s physical health or mental health. Exercise does a lot to combat that, I encourage people, especially in Medfield, we have a great local running club with over a hundred members. We all help each other one step at a time, train for a local 5k there are so many opportunities for those. You feel so much better once you do something like that and there is a community to go out and do it with you,” said Teachout.
