 The Boston Athletic Association has organized the Boston Marathon since the events inception in 1897. The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world's most prestigious road racing events. Monday marks the 122nd annual Boston Marathon and one of our very own will be competing. Ben Lips from Mate 1 will be the third person from Mingo County to ever compete in the race. The last person from Mingo County to compete was in 1989. They called the runners Super Bowl and I'm just glad that I can represent Mingo County and being a coal miner too working underground that says a lot. I'm just, I thank God first that he gave the opportunity and the help to be able to accomplish such a feat. Lips has held a place in the running world for many years. He says it was a tough path though and he strayed along the way. Back in my early 20s my dad was a big time runner and he used to get me to run. I hated it. Eventually I got to liking it because I got to spend time with him and then I kind of fell away from it. I got mixed up in drugs. I had a real bad drug problem for about 12 years and I met my wife. Finally she put her foot down and said, enough's enough. You know, you gotta get your life right. So we started going to church and I got saved and a 12 years addiction was gone. Thank God, you know, he blessed me with that and he brought running back into my life. Lips added that running in our mountainous terrain has helped him significantly while training for the marathon, considering Boston is fairly flat. King Cole Highway from Mingo Central back to Mate 1. Sometimes I'll run from Mate 1 to Williamson and sometimes she'll drop me off down the flow and I'll go up to the old high school and back. It's just, where am I feeling like going? I've done the Hatfield McCoy marathon here twice. If you could do that marathon, you could do any marathon. His goal for the Boston Marathon is to cross the finish line. In Mate 1, Shelby Porter, EKB News.