HUDSONVILLE, Mich. — One West Michigan teacher has already completed multiple marathons. This weekend she’s taking on the New York City Marathon, even after having to relearn to walk, twice, just two years ago.
Raychel Figurski told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, “I’ve been a runner my whole life. I started with Girls on the Run when I was in elementary school. I ran cross country and track in middle school, high school, and college. I ran at Western Michigan University.”
Naturally, she said the next step was to take on marathons.
“Right, I know, it’s a little crazy.”
Her very first one, though, didn’t go so well.
“I didn’t really train for it. So, I just showed up on race day and ran and it was one of the worst experiences of my life,” she said. “My mom was like, ‘you going to do that again, one day?’ I was like, nope, never.”
Instead of giving up, she had an idea.
“Maybe if I train, I can actually do this for real,” said Figurski.
Now, she’s like a pro and has the hardware to show for it. She showed 13 ON YOUR SIDE the four medals she’s earned after running three world major marathons: twice in Chicago, once in Boston and once in Berlin.
Not to mention, she also teaches calculus at Hudsonville High School.
“Being a math teacher and a runner, they’re both kind of weird, right? A lot of people don’t like math, and a lot of people don’t like to run.”
The two may be different but are not always separate.
Figurski explained, “Okay, if I have that pace for the next how many miles, what will my finish time be? So, I realize I do a little bit of math when I’m running.”
Just as she was getting into her groove, she said, “In 2021, ran a couple marathons in the fall. I was in the best shape of my life.”
A health condition would stop her in her tracks.
“Both of my hips were shaped wrong. So, my femur – instead of your femur fitting in your hip socket and rotating the way it’s supposed to, I had extra bone growth on the head of my femur. So, instead of it rotating smoothly, it would like click and jump.”
This eventually led to serious injury.
“I found out I had labrum tears in both hips. So, that was the result of the bone not hitting the other spot the right way,” she said.
The solution was surgery.
“So, I had that one. Was on crutches for three weeks. Kind of had to, after that, relearn how to walk and then three weeks after that, I did the other one. So, then I did the other side and started all the way over.”
Just months after that, she was back on her feet, even slowly beginning to run again.
“And then I found out that spring I had to have a knee surgery because I had some cartilage damage,” she said.
None of that was stopping her from running the world.
“Since all of those surgeries, I’ve ran three marathons, now, after them, and then New York will be number four.”
Including in Berlin just weeks ago.
Her training has changed somewhat. In the video, you see her using an anti-gravity treadmill.
“So, you wear like special shorts that zip into it and it uses air pressure to lift your body weight off. So, I can run at 85% body weight, which significantly reduces the impact on both of my hips, the impact on my knees and joints and stuff.”
She said she’s ready to take on her fourth world major event, and 11th marathon, Sunday, November 3, 2024, at the NYC Marathon.
Figurski is running this weekend as part of the Team TCS Teachers program. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the main sponsor of the NYC Marathon and every year they choose teachers across the country and offer them VIP access, which includes waiving the nearly $300 entry fee.
Figurski was chosen out of the hundreds of applicants and is the only teacher going from West Michigan.