Imagine running a 4:08 mile and then having your coach tell you that you didn’t make the varsity team. Eric Boucher doesn’t have to imagine—it happened to him. But this wasn’t any varsity squad, it was the legendary University of Colorado track team. Eric’s journey to that moment began when he showed up to a high school football practice in argyle socks and weighing 120 pounds. Upon sizing him up, the football coach told Boucher to check out the cross country team. Eric didn’t just check out the team, he lead the Ridgewood, NJ squad, earning him the attention of college running programs. Many schools offered him scholarships, including Georgetown, St. Joseph’s, and Kentucky. Eric turned down the scholarship offers to attend the University of Colorado, where he had to earn a scholarship for cross country. And indeed by the end of his freshman year, he earned one for the remainder of his time there.
You may know the Colorado team from the book Running with the Buffaloes. The author, Chris Lear, ran with the team the year after Eric graduated. Lear not only missed out on running with Boucher, but he also missed out on Alan Culpepper, with whom Eric was roommates freshman year. Eric and Alan still keep in touch to this day.
Boucher’s collegiate highlights include a 14:30 5k and a 29:38 10k. Despite those fast times, he described himself as “the 6th man on a deep bench”. Eric eventually gained some notoriety his senior year when a talented freshman named Adam Goucher joined the team. Despite the success of the cross country team in nationals, the campus was mostly focused on the football team and its season. So when Goucher made the headlines for winning NCAAs, many friends and classmates congratulated Boucher for Goucher’s performance. Even his family at home in New Jersey often wondered if there was a typo in the sports write-up. Finally, at Eric’s graduation party, Goucher made an appearance which was a revelation to many of Eric’s friends. People introduced themselves to Goucher, exclaiming, “So you’re the real Goucher!”
After college, Boucher traveled and tended bar before eventually landing a job on Wall Street. He currently works in Equity Research Sales for the ISI group. He sells economic research to various money managers. His territory is Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia. He is constantly on the road—last year he tallied 120 travel days. While being away from his family is tough for him, work travel does help his training. He gets his run in at either 4am or 5pm on travel days. The afternoon run usually precedes a client dinner at which the guests are reaching for cocktails while Eric is chugging water.
Eric met his wife Emily (also a runner) in ’97 and together they’re raising three children. They have two girls, aged 7 and 5, and a 2-year-old son. “All our kids have grown up in a baby jogger,” says Eric. That is no surprise, but the question of how many miles are being pushed is raised as Eric mentions that they have had to change the tires twice due to worn-out rubber. Eric and Emily plan their vacation (and specifically the lodging) based on where they can run. But running and watching three children are not compatible, so the husband and wife never run together. That spells out to a shared passion that is not shared together.
While you may not see Eric at many workouts due to his work travel, you will see him at many races scoring for the team. His current goal is breaking 2:40 in the marathon. His latest post-college personal record is a 1:14:00 half marathon that he ran in Brooklyn this year. It is not easy to juggle a family, a job that makes you travel, and running, but Boucher seems to be doing it—and doing it well.