Decades before becoming a longtime coach at Burlington High School, Ryan Olson made a mistake that altered his approach to life and one of his main passions.

From the time he was able to walk, Olson had an interest in running. He and his mother often went on runs, steadily increasing his mileage with age and running his first marathon at 10 years old.

As an 11-year-old, Olson competed in the Deseret News Marathon in Salt Lake City, Utah. He had run the first 25 miles of 26.2 in good time and was nearing the end. But as the West Jordan, Utah, native approached mile 26, he couldn’t find the man holding the mile marker and showing the way forward; supposedly, the worker took a break and wasn’t present.

Olson ran for two hours before realizing he’d left the route. Despite running in excess of 26.2 miles, he never officially completed the race.

“I never found that finish line,” Olson said. “I ended up lost around Salt Lake until my parents found me.”

The race was a turning point for the young runner. Such a devastating outcome could have easily derailed Olson’s running career.

But instead, he stayed positive and diligent in training after the unfortunate mishap.

“There’s a lot of ways you can look at failure,” Olson said. “You can stop, get discouraged and fall backward, or you can fall forward.”

Now 47 years old, Olson coaches at BHS and still runs long distances regularly. He has coached football, basketball, track and field and cross country in his 24 years at the school, while also training for and running dozens of marathons on the side.

In a normal week, Olson runs 60 to 70 miles, with his longest hauls — of 15 to 20 miles — usually coming on Saturdays. Sometimes he runs before dawn, at 3 a.m., in the cold, while sometimes he opts to run in the warmer afternoon temperatures.

Either way, Olson is comfortable running in practically any climate.

“I tell the kids there’s no cold weather; there’s only underdressed runners,” Olson said. “You just have to dress more. I actually have to wear ski goggles so my contacts don’t freeze on my eyeballs. You can still run, even in Wyoming.”

The coach often runs with fellow staff members or BHS athletes, exploring various locales in the Big Horn Basin, ranging from abandoned cabins to canals.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Olson said. “You get to see a lot of the places off the beaten path.”

While these are some of his favorite places to log miles, Olson just likes to run where the pests aren’t.

“It’s wherever the dogs aren’t,” Olson said. “You can tell where I run because that’s where the friendly dogs are. I’ve come in contact with a few of the other ones in the past, and I try to avoid those whenever I can.”

Back in 2014, Olson achieved one of his dreams: qualifying for the Boston Marathon. But due to the bombing at the event in the year before, the pool of runners grew and it required a faster qualifying time that Olson didn’t have.

This was another speed bump in the coach’s career, but he maneuvered it with the same attitude as when he missed a turn as an 11-year-old.

“When I found that out, I had to be like, ‘This is a dream that I’m going to give up on or keep going next year to keep getting faster,’” Olson said.

He chose the latter of those options, and it paid off. Olson earned the chance to compete in the New York City Marathon a few years back — an even tougher event to qualify for — and got the chance to participate again in 2020.

Though not in the Big Apple, Olson competed in the virtual TCS New York City Marathon on Saturday, Oct. 31. While posting a strong time is always a key goal, Olson’s main focus was to enjoy it.

“This one’s mostly to have fun,” he said. “I’ve prepared pretty well for it, and I’m excited about it. It’s a little different instead of having a million people on the course cheering, but it will be just as fun having my family there.”

Olson placed 38th out of 5,065 competitors, posting a time of 3:03.39. His route went from just outside Wapiti to Cody, and he averaged seven minutes per mile.

As a teacher and coach, Olson’s profession is built around helping adolescents develop mentally, socially and physically. He hopes his lifelong determination to improve as a runner — as well as his impressive time in the virtual marathon — can inspire his students.

“Just let the kids know that if they have a dream, they can achieve it,” Olson said. “Believe and achieve.”