< The Latest 2025-04-16T01:09:09+0000
The Pasadena Star-News | Tue 04/15 06:06pm PST | Jarret Liotta
When he was growing up in Monterey Park and Alhambra, Albert Lew did not consider himself an athlete. Instead, he focused those early years on academics.
Fast forward into adulthood, and Lew, of Monterey Park, has found a passion in running – around the world.
Now, he wants that passion to inspire others, whatever the long journey in their own lives.
Lew, 40 will run the Boston Marathon on Monday, thus becoming one of just a handful of people in the world who have participated in all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.
“I basically am doing something that I don’t think has been done within my smaller cities,” said Lew, who has run the five other major marathons in Berlin, Chicago, London, New York and Tokyo over the past two years.
“It’s quite a feat … Trying to do marathons is not an easy task,” said Lew, who hopes that he can inspire other people to follow their dreams in whatever area.
“Maybe I can share some of that inspiration, share some of that journey, and then people can finish the journey or the six-star journey in their own life,” he said.
In his youth, he took part in playing junior varsity tennis, but mostly his attention was on preparing himself to follow in his father’s footsteps as an engineer.
But his father was also an avid recreational runner, and though he never had the level of interest in the sport that Lew developed, there was some inspiration there.
“The short of it is that it wasn’t until my 30s that I decided I could still have this passion for running,” Lew said. “What if I took what my dad gave me and turned it up a little bit?”
In 2017, Lew began running with a church group that shared a goal of completing a marathon together, which is a standard 26.2-miles long-distance race.
“We were sort of a ragtag group of people and said, ‘Okay, let’s see what happens.’ … We thought it was a nice social thing to do together,” he said, with the group ultimately participating in the Long Beach Marathon.
“When that was over, I said I wanted to continue … . I decided maybe I should join a running club (or) a more specialized group of people who know what they’re doing,” Lew said.
He began participating in other local marathons, including the REVEL Big Bear and the Los Angeles Marathon.
“Albert is a very dedicated runner,” noted Jinghuan Liu Tervalon, one of his friends and marathon partners.
“He had the dream of running all marathon majors years ago and relentlessly pursued it,” he said.
“We trained together for the Berlin Marathon in 2022,” he said. “Throughout the summer, I’ve seen him putting in 20-mile long runs before the heat set in to keep his training going.”
Lew explained that training was pivotal to making this dream come true — staying healthy and building his strength and endurance — and this was guided by friends and others with more experience.
“You kind of, like, put out a training plan (through) friends who have done it before you,” he said. “I kind of stand on the shoulders of friends who have done it.”
During training, he said, he’ll typically do at least one 20-mile run each week, mixing shorter runs in between. While you strive to keep up your mileage, he said, you’re also striving to assuage any injuries, while taking care of rest and nutrition in between.
Lew began his cycle in Berlin in 2023, which he remembers in particular for the amazing fans.
“For Berlin, we had pretty much all 26 miles with people cheering you on,” he said, likening it to a playoff game in sports. “There was never a dry spot, there was never a quiet spot, which was amazing, because that never happens.”
The entire city seemed to come out, he said, with the marathon regularly getting over 40,000 runners and many more thousands there to cheer them on.
“The next one was Chicago,” Lew said, noting it was also electric but a very different terrain.
“Chicago was, I would say, probably the flattest course I’ve ever raced in,” he said, also noting the strong winds that held the runners back at times, but propelled them forward at other times so it felt like they were flying.
In 2024, Lew went to Tokyo, which he found to be the most organized race he’d ever seen.
“The organization is off the charts, in my opinion,” he said, with great care taken in providing runners with snacks and drinks so they don’t collide with other runners as they tour what Lew said was the amazing panoply of history that makes up Tokyo.
Likewise, London was a thrilling tour through an array of historic sites and neighborhoods, including cobblestone streets and a leg over the famous Tower Bridge.
“The one time they close that bridge is for this event, (so) for us being able to run that area (and) end at Buckingham Palace, is pretty amazing,” Lew said.
“The fifth one was New York, which I just finished four or five months ago. That one is the hardest in terms of course difficulty but that is the one I felt the most proud in terms of performing,” he said, having finished with a time of under three hours and 19 minutes.
The myriad historic sites and neighborhoods were striking to him, he said, as he toured through all five boroughs in that race.
And while the crowds were intermittent, given the breadth of the course, Lew said, “When you actually get back on the street and you run through the crowds, they’re the most insane people I’ve ever seen,” cheering with the Big Apple’s unique fervor.
Now, Lew will head to Massachusetts, where he’ll plan on having a couple of relaxed days of downtime before running the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21.
“It’s the oldest marathon pretty much in the entire world and it’s definitely one of the hardest to gain entry in, but it’s the holy grail of marathons,” he said. “For me to be able to finish the six star with this one is pretty special.”
Lew, who plans to continue running after this set is completed, recently joined the Lombardy Running Club, which is based in Pasadena and San Marino.
“Albert has quickly become a supportive and contributing member,” said Richard Lin, club director. “He consistently brings a great energy, pacing the fast group on our Thursday runs, joining our Saturday long runs, and enthusiastically cheering at races.”
“Having almost completed six World Marathon Majors — a significant achievement for our club — we’re excited for him to race the Boston Marathon this month and look forward to his continued training with us,” Lin said.
Lew, who is also an actor, writer and aspiring filmmaker, sees this endeavor as something more important than just his own accomplishment. To him, it’s a lesson in achievement he hopes to share with everyone who wants to do something special.
“I feel like I’m not just holding my own achievement in this, but I’m gonna be running for my city. I’m going to be running for my community,” he said, including Monterey Park, Alhambra and the San Gabriel Valley.
“The destination obviously is the finish.. but the real journey to be celebrated is everything that led up to that point,” he said.
“I never thought this would happen,” he said, “but here we go.”
Jarret Liotta is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and photographer.