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First Marathon Story: It's Our Duty to Give Back: Ainsley's Angels and Finding Community w/ Hunter Pardue

Writer: Taylor Sayles
Taylor Sayles
Aug 31
3 min read

Updated: Sep 2


Two smiling people on a split-screen video call, with Hunter Pardue in large white text over a warm-toned home backdrop.

In It For The Fun Of It

Hunter grew up playing soccer, and ended up doing cross country in high school kind of by accident. He didn't fit any of the stereotypes of a cross country runner, and was there more for the social aspect. In his words "there was no speed, it was just surviving." He was really out there for the fun of it.

Hunter headed off to college, then moved to Korea to teach English for a couple of years. He was running and going to the gym, but wasn't taking anything too seriously. He ended up running a 5K road race in Korea that also offered a 10K, and he committed to running the 10K the next year.


Running was always about being with friends and staying healthy. That's why in 2017, when he came home to Greenville, NC, he stumbled upon a fitness group in town and decided to join them.


Giving Back

As time went on, he started running races with the friends he met in the group, and at the same time, Ainsley's Angels of America was becoming more active in his area. He was inspired to take the skills he had and give it to other people, helping others finish a race (Ainsley's Angels supports inclusion, no matter your ability or age, to help people join in on races).


Some friends eventually approached him about a 200-mile relay race (a nine-person team, with each team member running four times over 24 hours), and he ended up agreeing to it. Relay races can be both the best and the worst. Stuck in a van with three other people, everyone smelly and covered in sweat, in the middle of no where — but he just went for it. He kept fueling, brought changes of clothes (he gained a new skill that day: changing in a Porta Potty), and just reveled in being with his community.


Through it all, he realized that he could dig deep and do hard things...and wondered where that could take him.


Running the Marathon

Hunter kept coming back for the relays, and trained for a half marathon. He started to think about running a marathon, and started to train for the relays with a future marathon attempt in mind. He signed up for the relay in September 2018, another in October 2018, and — finally, the marathon in November (the City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh, NC).


He wasn't chasing a time goal, knowing he had a heavy training block, but for Hunter, it was just about feeling good and locking in to a pace. He built a plan for himself, and committed to sticking with it.


There were hard times too. When his team group runs wrapped and he had to keep pushing along to hit the long-run mileage, he questioned why he was doing this. But he knew those were the moments that would make him stronger.


Race day arrived, and things started off not according to plan. He had trouble getting into the corrals, which meant he couldn't find the pacer he wanted to follow. But he adapted, and chose to keep going.


He locked in with a pacer and a group of five or six runners. He definitely hit the wall at Mile 20, but kept going with the group. He asked the group later on if they wanted to "pick it up" with him, and they found an extra boost of energy and went for it at the end.


Lessons Learned

  • Have fun with it.

  • Support your local races.

  • Be ready to adapt.

  • Don't go in with heavy time goals.

  • Cheer everyone on!

  • Be proud of whatever effort you put in.


Want to hear Hunter tell the story himself? Listen to the full episode now: It's Our Duty to Give Back: Ainsley's Angels and Finding Community w/ Hunter Pardue— available wherever you get your podcasts.


Listen to my most recent mini episode: Survival Guide To Running Your First Marathon



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Follow along with the show:

👣 Personal IG/TikTok: @tay.says / @taysays

🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod

📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast


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