While running long distances is nothing new for Kate Bucher, her most recent race was even more special than the last. The Marshall-native had spent the last few years aiming to compete in each of the seven World Marathon Majors, and with her completion of the Tokyo Marathon in March, Bucher became the youngest American woman to do so.

While the World Marathons Majors in the U.S. are simple enough to compete in, with entry being awarded based on a time qualification standard; others such as Tokyo require runners outside the country to enter a lottery to compete. The chances of winning that lottery can be around one in ten, but Bucher won that lottery this year.

“I was surprised when I got in,” Bucher said. “I didn’t expect to at all.”

Bucher completed the 26.2-mile course in Tokyo with a time of 2:58.38, placing 148th out of 9,720 women in the event. With the circuit completed, Bucher is now running marathons closer to home to train for the next major.

Aside from her training, Bucher still finds a way to be busy. Working two jobs, planning for her wedding, and still finding the time to run over 100 miles a week. So much of her life is busy. However, that’s the life she enjoys, and even in her free time, she likes to spend it being active.

Bucher started her running journey in high school, competing in cross country and track and field, even running at the collegiate level for one season at Minnesota State University.

During that time in Mankato, she wasn’t quite running marathons, running at most four-mile races. But she lost a lot of her passion for running and needed to reset and refresh. When she came back, her goal was to run longer distances, deciding to run her first marathon, Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, in 2022.

After that, she fell in love, and made it her new goal to run in the Boston Marathon, the oldest annual marathon in the world and one of the seven majors, alongside Sydney, New York, London, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo.

The World Marathon Majors each have time requirements to even apply for entry. The races have a time standard that runners must first meet in a certified qualifier course, and even then, not all who meet the standard are awarded a bib. Kate would need to run a marathon in under 3 hours and 30 minutes, or an average pace of 8:01 per mile.

Bucher ran a time of 3:11, putting her in qualification to run at Boston. After completing one, she knew she was hooked on marathons.

On May 30th, she will run in the Fargo Marathon, where her goal is to get a time under 2:59:00. She wants to keep running fast and lowering these times so when another World Major comes, she will be ready for it.

To achieve that goal, her training regime is intense. She runs anywhere from 100 to 120 miles per week. Some say that Bucher’s training leaves her short on recovery time, which is why after running in Fargo, she will be slowing down a little more, instead running about 80 miles a week so her body is able to properly recover.

Running for her isn’t just about lowering times, however. When running marathons in New York, Sydney, and London, she ran in support of charity causes for cancer. Where she raised a combined total of $14,000.

In all her time running and training, Bucher still finds time to achieve her other goals. In the Summer of 2025, Bucher graduated from Winona State University with a major in health and wellness.

Now, she spends her free time planning her wedding and spending time with her fiancé, Landon Frost. For hobbies she enjoys anything where she’s moving and outside. Be it pickleball, going for a walk, or just getting some fresh air.

“I just love being active.” Bucher said