Mike Wolanin | The Republic Malachi Henry, from left, paces Kasey Coleman and Josh Holley on a training run near Grandview Lake in Columbus, Ind., Friday, April 1, 2022. Holley, a Special Olympics athlete, has qualified to compete in the Boston Marathon. He has been training with Henry and Coleman for the marathon, and Coleman will be Holley’s support runner.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
A few seconds after Josh Holley qualified for his first Boston Marathon, he met his running partner for Monday’s iconic race.
Holley was struggling to stand up after crossing the finish line at the Nov. 6 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, and Kasey Coleman, who finished right after Holley, gave him some assistance. At the time, neither runner knew that the other was a fellow Columbus resident.
Meanwhile Holley, who is one of only a handful of Special Olympics athletes ever to qualify for Boston, asked local professional triathlete Malachi Henry if he would be his support runner at the marathon. Henry agreed, but then in January, began feeling pain in his hip and had to have surgery.
Unable to run, Henry contacted Coleman about running with Holley, and Coleman agreed. Coleman also had qualified for Boston at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon the same day as Holley.
Coleman, 31, ran in high school in Maryland. He graduated from BYU and now works as an engineer at Cummins. He has done has done two marathons, with the first one being the 2018 Mill Race Marathon.
“When (Henry) had the hip injury, he asked if I’d be interested in running with Josh, and I figured it was a pretty good opportunity,” Coleman said. “We had about the same times, so I figured, ‘Why not?’”
That change wasn’t the only source of stress Holley has had since the start of 2022. He came down with COVID in January, and it lasted into February.
“After COVID went away, I had a cough I couldn’t get away for the longest time, but now, it’s gone,” Holley said. “I tried my best to not lost my running ability in those two months. I did everything I could to keep running. It was a few miles at a time, but I couldn’t do much more than that because my breathing was completely awful.”
Fortunately for Holley, he still was able to get in a few miles on his treadmill or a long ride on his exercise bike.
“When I had COVID, every single day, I still worked on endurance,” Holley said. “I biked literally every single day. It was either 30-mile or 50-mile bike rides. It kept me busy and kept me exercising, and it helped me during COVID, too, because it loosened the mucous.”
The past couple months, Holley has been building back his mileage. He and Coleman have gotten together to run a few times around Grandview Lake. They are hoping the hills around Grandview will help them prepare for the hilly Boston course.
“I’ve been with Josh, kind of talking with him about running, helping him here and there for a couple of years, and once he qualified, he asked if I could run with him because they require him to have a partner to run with him,” Henry said. “I was obviously honored and said yes, and then a month-and-a-half later, I found out I had to have hip surgery and was unable to run. Kasey is an awesome dude, a great runner and even better person, and I knew he would be able to assist Josh in the run. So I got them connected, and Kasey agreed to it, so I’ve hooked them up a couple times to run together, so when they get to Boston, it will be a really smooth transition.”
Henry ran the Boston Marathon in 2014 at the age of 23, the same age Holley is at the moment. Henry plans to be there for Holley today and Monday.
“It’s a hectic couple of days, so I’ll be there for Josh and kind of lead him in a couple directions just because I’ve done it before, and it’s a very unique race with probably some different scenarios that he’s not used to and the preparation the day before and the day of,” Henry said.
Holley, who has autism, and his mother Deana expressed their appreciation for several individuals who have helped Josh along the way, including Special Olympics coach Andy Hunnicutt, running inspiration Zane Yeager, former support runners Louie Green and Tyler Stilwell and former trainers Tom Watts and Donald Peterson, along with Henry and Coleman.
“I’m thankful with my community that supports and believes me,” Josh said. “I just want to make my hometown proud. I have been told I have inspired a few in my community. In my neighborhood I run in daily, people cheer me on, and I had some start to run behind me, children and adults. If I get people motivated, then that’s a good thing. For me, it has been Ultra Marathoners, Ironmen, mentors, trainers, coaches, family and my mom to get me — a Special Olympics Indiana athlete — to Boston plus my running legs. I’m not sure if it’s true or not but I have been told I’m one of the fastest qualifiers as Special Olympics athlete at 2:53. My mom says this often, “It takes a village to raise a runner.
“I don’t want to leave out Unified Track, Special Olympics and SideKicks has been a big part of my running,” he added. “Our Ability is Stronger than our Dis-ability.”
Most of all, the Holleys expressed gratitude for Henry’s father Max, who is funding their trip and stay in Boston.
“I want to thank Max for helping me out with the expenses to get me to Boston,” Holley said. “I really appreciate that.”
Josh graduated from Purdue last fall with a degree in business administration. He is working on writing a fiction book and wants to write a book about his journey to qualifying for Boston.
“I know I set hard goals like graduating from Purdue Global University in three years instead of four with getting a bachelor’s degree in business administration, qualifying for Boston and now attempting to writing a book,” he said. “This new goal might be unrealistic but being a contestant on Survivor has crossed my mind.”
After finishing his first marathon in about 4 1/2 hours, Holley has bettered his time in each of the past four. His 2:53:55 clocking at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon was his first sub-3:00 marathon, which he needed to qualify for Boston.
“It’s taken me five marathons to get to Boston,” he said. “I am really excited for it.”
Holley and Coleman will start in Wave 1 of the marathon on Monday. But because of the hills and the expected 35,000 runners to take part in the race, they have no illusions of setting another personal record.
Holley just wants to finish and then give back the finishers medal that Yeager, gave him after Holley came close to qualifying in 2019.
“My one goal is just to complete it,” Holley said. “Then after that, I want to give the medal Zane gave me back to him.”
