Emily Shay completes Boston Marathon

For Emily Shay, you could say running runs in the family.

The 25-year-old daughter of Hoquiam City Administrator Brain Shay and granddaughter of renowned local runner Thomas Shay, recently completed the 129th Boston Marathon in 3:17:25. Emily was cheered on by her family who made the trip to the East Coast.

Shay, a state lobbyist at Gordon Thomas Honeywell Government Relations and a government affairs specialist for Greater Grays Harbor, Inc., raised $11,840 for Girls on the Run, a nonprofit that “inspire(s) girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.”

According to the official website, “The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world’s most prestigious road racing events. The Boston Marathon has distinguished itself as a pinnacle event within the sport of road racing by virtue of its traditions, longevity, and method of gaining entry into the race via qualification.”

While in Boston, the Shay family took in a Red Sox game at legendary Fenway Park and marveled at the history you could practically bump into on any street in Beantown.

“It was awesome, my daughter did phenomenal in the race,” Brian said. “I’ve never been to Boston. It is way bigger than I expected. Everywhere you went for miles in different directions were giant beautiful historic brick buildings in perfect condition. I didn’t see a single run-down looking building. We went to a Red Sox game, it was awesome. The atmosphere at Fenway, it was like going to a college football game.”

Brian, an avid runner himself, says he got Emily into running when she was younger.

“When she was 12 or 13 years old, I got her into running. Back then I used to run and run marathons, and 12 years later she’s doing the Boston Marathon,” Brian said. “She got her start running a race in Hoquiam.”

Emily, a former top-ranked high school tennis player at Vista Ridge High School in Texas, never ran competitively in high school or college, however the sport became therapeutic during a very trying time.

“I had a weird childhood, I grew up in Grays Harbor and then moved to Texas kinda halfway through my 6 through 18 life,” Emily said. “I did my first 5K in Hoquiam, dad was the city manager at the time and I remember how much fun I had with my dad and getting out and winning as a little kid. I didn’t think anything of it until after college. College was a stressful time, it was COVID and you’re trying to figure yourself out at 22. I went through a tough break-up and then found the (Seattle) Green Lake Running Group where I found my boyfriend of two-and-a-half years.”

Brian said he was quite taken with the race environment.

“So cool, there were people everywhere. My daughter was on a team for this nonprofit called Girls on the Run, which supports young women and gets girls into running and they had a booth at the 15-mile mark. We got there early enough to see the elite men go by and the elite women go by.”

Emily, a University of Washington graduate, said Kathrine Switzer was one of the reasons she wanted to run the Boston Marathon. Switzer was the first woman to officially register for and run the Boston Marathon in 1967.

“Growing up I was very much a tomboy, but through running I really found my femininity,” Emily said. “That’s why the Boston Marathon was so important because that was the first female runner back in 1967. I ran for Girls on the Run. They have local programs here in the state and I am a coach for the Olympia area and the Bellevue-Kirkland Area. It’s an after-school program for ages 7 to 14. We provide a lesson on running and just being a girl and how to be a superstar.”

Emily said she is working with Josh Martin, the CEO of Summit Pacific Medical Center, to start a Girls on the Run program in Elma. She said it was her grandfather who inspired her to become a marathoner.

“My grandpa was a marathon runner and a local legend in Aberdeen and Grays Harbor, so why I really started running marathons was my grandpa,” Emily said. “He is just an icon. The first person I call after my race is FaceTime my grandpa and grandma. They’re my biggest cheerleaders. They still live in Aberdeen. Grays Harbor is their community. My first marathon was the Portland Marathon, which my dad had done, my grandpa, and my uncle. It was kind of a family thing. My grandpa has been there through my whole journey and my first marathon was dedicated to him.”

Emily said she plans to hold her next fundraiser for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research because her grandfather is dealing with Parkinson’s. Aside from helping her get through some tough times during her college years, running has become an integral part of her life.

“Growing up therapy was more talked about just because of my generation, I’m a Gen Zer. It was very much mental health for me,” Emily said. “It was just a scary place to not know what your next step was and I always had a plan. I always wanted to be a lobbyist. It’s crazy to think I’m already there. Mental health I’ve always struggled with. That’s why I really do run. It’s the part of the day I enjoy the most, I’m cranky before my run. I live in a very crazy environment, for me it’s one of the biggest mental health saviors.”

Having accomplished quite a bit already during her three-year marathon career, Emily has global ambitions when it comes to this vocation.

“I go around and travel and see the world. My goal is to run a marathon in every state, in every country, on every continent. I have no idea if I will accomplish that full goal. I run four to five a year,” Emily said. “I’m just trying to go see the world. My next one is Sydney, Australia. I’ll be running the Sydney Marathon on August 29. It’s awesome to be considered an elite athlete.”

Emily says running in Greece in the birthplace of the marathon and democracy has been the highlight of her running career.

“We live in a country that’s new. I had just run the Athens Marathon in Greece, and I was quite literally standing on democracy. I went to the birthplace of it, the Parthenon, the Acropolis, and ran through the town of Marathon, ran to Athens, we did the whole thing, the reason why the marathon exists. That was even crazier than Boston for me,” Emily said. “We’re a baby country. It was really cool to see Boston. We’re very Irish, it was cool to see the Irish heritage and the history of a new country. We got to throw over the tea at the Boston Tea Party. My boyfriend is from India, so to think that tea was from his homeland, and it traveled here and we started a rebellion. It reminded me why I’m in politics, and why I have chosen to be so fascinated with history and the history of politics.”

In addition to her globetrotting goals, she intends to run all of the major marathons including New York.

“I want to see everything,” Emily said.