You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who had a better showing at Monday’s 129th Boston Marathon than Michael Keebler.

The Montague resident has been running his entire life, but began training and competing in marathons when he moved to western Massachusetts in 2020. 

Monday was the 36-year-old’s seventh marathon, and it was a stellar performance as Keebler completed the 26.2 mile run in a time of 2 hours, 34 minutes and 10 seconds. That placed him 384th overall in a field of over 30,000 runners, and was the fastest time of any Franklin County runner in Boston.

“It was about what I was shooting for,” Keebler said. “For the past couple years I’ve been trying to see if I could break [two hours, 30 minutes] in a marathon. That’s my white whale. I just keep chasing that thing. I wasn’t really sure if I could break 2:30 in Boston even though I was in good shape going in. I took it conservatively, ran it smart and tried to pace myself well. The time was something I was pretty happy with.” 

Keebler, who grew up in New Jersey, ran in high school and then competed in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track at Boston College, graduating in 2011. 

After graduation, he took a few years off from running to focus on his career but after moving to western Mass. in January of 2020, decided to get back to doing what he loves.

“Moving to a new area, I wanted to pick up running again,” Keebler said. “It’s a good way to meet new friends and explore a new area. The western Mass. running community is always looking out for each other. Moving out here, not knowing anybody and working from home, the local running community is how I’ve made friends out here. You go on runs with them and it’s such a great way to meet your neighbors and new people.” 

Keebler began running with his former teammate at BC, Tim Ritchie, the current cross country coach at UMass. Ritchie helped coach Keebler up, as he set his eyes on competing in the Atlantic City Marathon, which takes place close to where he grew up. 

He spent the summer of 2020 training for the AC Marathon but it ended up being canceled due to COVID-19. He still went down and ran the course anyway, to see how fast he could complete it.

Keebler went on to do a timed trail run of the Boston Marathon in 2020 and a year later, went back and ran the Atlantic City Marathon for his first ever official marathon – completing it in a time of 2:35. 

He then went on to run the Cape Cod Marathon twice and later, competed as a support runner for a para-athlete in the Boston Marathon. 

“It was a really fun experience,” Keebler said. “I was there as a chaperone and support buddy and ran it with him. It was really fun. I was in pretty good shape at the time and we ran for four hours. There were people along the course high-fiving us the whole way."

Keebler ran the Boston Marathon for the first time himself last year, and just a few months ago, competed in the California International Marathon in December where he ran a personal best time of 2:32. 

Despite the short turnaround, he decided to train for Boston for a second straight year. While he didn’t complete his goal of hitting 2:30, he was still pleased with his performance. 

“Monday was a really good day but not my personal best,” Keebler said. “What I was really happy about was that it felt like this was one of my best attempts at a marathon in terms of having a fast finish. I was feeling good at the end and still trying to pass people. I didn’t hit that wall that you hear about.” 

Keebler noted there’s nothing like running in the Boston Marathon with the support and love you receive from the crowd watching along the course. 

“It’s a little bit of an out of body experience,” Keebler said. “The crowd support is incredible. You hear about it but when you run it, it’s really something to experience. It makes you emotional and makes you want to try your best. There’s so many strangers cheering you on. You get taken aback by it.” 

Keebler has a special connection to the Boston Marathon. He worked for Boston Athletic Association out of college, with his specific role to work on the marathon. 

“I was selling shoes to people and getting them interested in joining our running club and trying to get them to run the marathon,” Keebler said. “For me, it was important then to make sure people had the best experience at running and running the Boston Marathon so for me to come back, run it and receive the support from the crowd, it was almost overwhelming. It’s a really cool feeling.” 

The infamous Newton Hills, which take place around the 18-mile mark and are noted as one of the toughest stretches of the course, were where Keebler received the most support on Monday. 

Keebler previously worked at a store on Commonwealth Avenue, and when he ran by Monday, his former friends and coworkers were there to give him a boost the rest of the way. 

“There were people I’ve known for 10 years there cheering me on,” Keebler said. “They brought the hype. It really helps you power through that part of the course.” 

Keebler, thanks to the help of Pelham’s Wouter Hoogkamer, an assistant professor of kinesiology at UMass, got to feel like a pro athlete on Monday. 

Hoogkamer, along with Keebler’s partner Megan, are doing research on the science of running shoes and working with Puma to come up with the ideal shoe for performance. Keebler was one of 15 people who got to go down and test the shoe, and that group was shown to be 3 percent more efficient while running with them.

The shoe was released to the public last Friday, and Keebler wore them on Monday. 

“They put together a group of athletes in Boston and London who were wearing the new shoes Monday,” Keebler said. “It was a little glimpse into what it’s like to be a pro athlete. Coming up through high school and college, I didn’t think I’d ever get to that level. It was cool to feel like one of those guys.” 

What’s next for Keebler after the big performance? With two marathons in a four-month span, he’s going to take some time to recover, though he’s still chasing that 2:30 time – so don’t expect him to stay inactive for too long. 

“Right now I’m just really happy with Boston,” Keebler said. “I came into Monday feeling good but also knowing how hard this has been. It was a tough winter training. Even for someone like me who loves the sport, there’s only so many days you can run in the freezing cold and snow. It sucks but I do it because I love it. I went and had such a good experience in Boston though, even though I didn’t PR. It made me energized to take another attempt at 2:30. I’m not sure what my next race will be but for the summer and fall, I think I’m going to try shorter distance races to work on building up my top end speed. When I come back to a marathon after, I’m hoping I’ll be able to hit a faster pace and hit my goal.”