Miranda Adkins | So Salem

Salem High School teacher Chris Tucker ran in the Boston Marathon, raising money for Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang.

When Salem High teacher Chris Tucker ran in the 114th Boston Marathon earlier this year, he didn't get to go by having the official qualifying time -- he raised money for Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang.

Twelve charities are allowed to have their fundraising members run without having to get a certain time in a previously run marathon.

"One way I train for this is I run by every child's house in my class," said Tucker, who teaches human anatomy and physiology. And when he says every student, he means it.

"Every Monday, I draw where I went on the map," he said.

They also tell him whether they think he went too fast, too slow, or if his run wasn't challenging enough.

One of his students happens to live on Poor Mountain, and that meant a training run on that challenging peak.

He's grateful for the motivation, but he's also grateful because "they and their parents help donate money to the Hole in the Wall Gang."

A former student of his, Katie Guynn, is now a senior student at Wellesley College, a school that happens to be on the Boston Marathon route.

True to his custom, he was able to run past that landmark, but there was other magic about his starting position that helped push him through.

Salem's Mike Elmore qualified for "the Boston," but he didn't have a running partner. The night before, Elmore asked Tucker if he'd run with him.

"He stayed with me the whole way," Tucker said. Tucker's number in the race was 26,182. The pair finished in the 9,010s with times of around 3 hours and 35 minutes, passing at least 17,000 people, with a time that qualified them both for the same race next year.

The night before, at the Hole in the Wall Gang meeting, he met parents with sick children, at least one who had a recurrence of leukemia.

"And here I am, two healthy legs and this kid was sick ... I was running for a lot of people," he said.

Another motivator was the sheer number of people celebrating along the route.

"People are flipping burgers, having drinks ... it's a 26.2 mile tailgate party," said Tucker. "The whole state of Massachusetts must have off that day."

"The last several miles are four and five deep," he said. "That's what pulls you."