Growing up in Boston, Ray Jerauld wasn't enamored with running.
But after he got hooked on the sport, with some prodding from Manatee School of the Arts teacher Luis Oliva, Jerauld became a marathon runner.
With the help of coach Alicia Rider, Jerauld — who overcame alcohol addiction — eventually qualified for the Boston Marathon.
On Monday, Jerauld, a Bradenton resident, ran the completed the course in 3 hours, 31 minutes and 11 seconds.
"Because of the conditions, I really kind of dropped all my goals and my finish time was 3:31 and I couldn't be happier with it," Jerauld said via a phone interview. "It was my second-fastest out of the six (marathons)."
Cold and rainy conditions were the primary hurdle for Monday's participants.
"The muscles never really get warm," Jerauld said. "It was tough. I couldn't get the chill out of me. I couldn't stop shivering until I finished."
Jerauld wasn't the only Manatee County runner competing at the Boston Marathon.
Lakewood Ranch's Matthew Bertrand (3:05:06), Lakewood Ranch's Hector Guzman (3:07:22), Bradenton's Kaleigh Gibbons (3:26:16), Bradenton's Tom Egan (3:47:13), Bradenton's Corey Peyerk (3:49:11), Lakewood Ranch's Jennifer Tullio (4:12:36), Bradenton's Kim Gorman (4:21:00), Bradenton's David Marshall (4:31:08), Lakewood Ranch's Blair Gladding (4:52:44), Bradenton's James Wolcott (5:07:33) and Lakewood Ranch's Alicia Harrison (5:33:58) also completed the course.
Here are this week's other Hometown Heroes:
Ryley Ober
Bayshore High swimming sensation Ryley Ober verbally committed to Indiana University. A junior, Ober won four state titles in the past two seasons. She won 200-yard freestyle and 100 free titles last fall. As a sophomore, Ober won the 200 and 500 free.
Demarcus Christmas
A former Manatee High standout, Demarcus Christmas helped usher in the Willie Taggart era in Tallahassee with the Florida State Seminoles' annual spring game on Saturday that saw a program-record crowd of 60,934.
There were also past FSU stars on the sidelines such as Bradenton's Peter Warrick, Derrick Brooks, Deion Sanders, Jameis Winston and Dalvin Cook.
"That was amazing," Christmas told Seminoles.com. "What was amazing to me is guys coming back rooting for us and seeing what we can do, and giving us knowledge."
Raymond Thomas
Displaying the explosive speed he had at Braden River High, Raymond Thomas scored on a 71-yard touchdown in Northwest Missouri State's spring game last week. Thomas, who overcame a torn ACL as junior in 2015 to thrive as a senior in 2016 and sign with Northwest Missouri State, was one of X106 Sports' offensive players of the game.
Jessica Korda
A Bradenton native, Jessica Korda is off to a fast start in her eighth LPGA Tour season. She's fifth on the money list, earning just shy of $414,000 this year. And Korda's accomplished that feat in half the tournaments played compared to three of the four players ahead of her.
Brad Zunica
Former Lakewood Ranch High and State College of Florida baseball standout Brad Zunica entered Monday batting .206 (7-for-34) in 10 games for Lake Elsinore (Calif.). The Storm are the San Diego Padres' high-Single A team in the California League.
SCF baseball
State College of Florida's baseball team had their impressive winning streak snapped Saturday. The Manatees won 18 straight games before dropping the second game of a three-game series with Polk State College, 10-5. SCF's streak began March 9 and included five consecutive series sweeps against Suncoast Conference opponents. The Manatees averaged 10.44 runs per game during the 18-game winning streak, while allowing 3.22 runs per game.
Manatee Wildcats
The U-12 girls lacrosse team capped a 17-0-1 record with the A division title in the recent Battle of the Bay tournament.
The Wildcats claimed a 6-3 victory in the championship.
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