When your birthday comes along, what do you ask for? An Xbox? A Playstation? Some new clothes? A gift that high schoolers hardly ever ask for is admittance into a marathon.

This was the case for sophomore Travis Finetto, who at 10:42 a.m. on Nov. 22 crossed the finish line at the Philadelphia Marathon in Philadelphia, PA. He finished with in impressive time of 3:22:56, which equates to a 7:44 mile over the 26.2 mile race.

The race was a birthday gift from his grandparents, as marathons’ expensive entry fees can be a strain for a high school student to pay.

Upwards of 9,000 people took to the streets in Philadelphia for the marathon, many coming from around the world.

Finetto spent the night prior to the race in Philadelphia, so he could be ready for the 7:00 a.m. start time. His parents were at the race to support him, along with one of his good friends, sophomore Christopher Santa Barbara.

Finetto is on the cross country team, and received a varsity letter this year. However, the competitions in cross country are usually 5 kilometers, which equates to 3.1 miles, and obviously far shorter than the distance of a marathon.

“Throughout this year, my coach for cross country [Eric Rosenthal], as well as my teammates, helped push me to my limits, which helped me to prepare for my marathon,” Finetto said.

This was the first marathon that Finetto has ran, and it took a great deal of preparation.

“I mostly took my cross country training which actually had more total milage involved than most marathon plans people use prior to the race,” Finetto said regarding his training routine. “I added in a few longer runs in order to fully understand exactly how far I was running.”

The results, available on the marathon’s official website, showed that Finetto recorded the fastest time for all participants at 16 years old, at 3:22:56. He came in as the 21st fastest marathoner for the age 16-19 division, which included 95 runners that completed the race. This does not take into account the runners who did not finish the full 26.2 miles.

Finetto also surpassed his goal of completing the race in a time 3:30. He exceeded this by about seven minutes.  

“[My time] was definitely something I was thrilled with,” Finetto said.

While many of the elite marathon times hover just above the two hour mark, many of those runners run professionally or are much older. Additionally, such runners often have marathon experience.

“Crossing the finish line, I felt a great sense of accomplishment,” Finetto said.

Completing a marathon is not an easy feat, but Finetto was able to do it thanks to determination and serious training.

“My marathon was one the most physically, and mentally challenging things I have ever had to accomplish,” he said.

As the soreness in his legs diminishes, Finetto plans to continue running with the cross country team. He also hopes to participate in more marathons in his future.