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Ringgold Grad Moves to Idaho, Becomes Avid Hunter and Marathon Runner

Weston Homa pictured with the mule deer he hunted in Idaho. He said, "This is what I train for, because out here, you have to hike in the mountains to find them, then carry them out on your back. So that's how my running journey started, to prepare for times like this."

Weston Homa has run in seven marathons thus far, including the Boston Marathon.

By Lois Thomson

Weston Homa, Ringgold class of 2015, has turned into quite an avid runner, most recently completing the Boston Marathon, then another marathon in Eugene, Ore., the following week. What's interesting is that Homa never ran track or cross country at Ringgold; rather, he only started running when he began to go hunting in the Western United States and used it as a means of getting in better shape.

As he explained, "Running didn't become part of my life until 2020. At that time I wasn't in good shape, I had a hard time running more than a couple of miles." However, he had a passion for hunting in the mountains in the Western states, saying, "Hunting out here is almost like an endurance event in itself. You put a lot of miles on your feet, carrying a heavy backpack. It really excited me and when I got a taste of that, I wanted to get in better shape."

When Homa says "out here," he is referring to Boise, Idaho, where he moved last October from Bethel Park, and he said hunting was the big driver that encouraged the move. Some people have dreams, but Homa acted on his. "In my 20s, I was one of those people who would say, 'Maybe one day I'll move out there, can you imagine living out there.'" Then he acknowledged, "I got tired of not chasing what I knew I wanted deep down."

The process stretched over years as he started looking for jobs, deciding where to move. He began applying for jobs in Boise and, with a civil engineering degree from Penn State in 2019, received a job offer last summer with a power company.

He said he found "his people" in the running community, but the hunting is what he fell in love with. Homa had gone hunting in Pennsylvania, but said, "There was something different once it turned into almost like a real endurance event – in the mountains, backpacking all day, sleeping in a tent, trying to find water."

For that reason, in 2020 he started to get in better shape and in 2022 ran in the Pittsburgh Marathon. Homa has now run a total of seven, most recently in Boston and Eugene, the times for both of which were 7 minutes faster than his best.

Homa said he likes to share his story, because everybody has dreams, but you have to take small action steps. "I dreamed of running Boston, but when I first started it was hard to really believe that I could do that."

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