Life is a marathon for science teacher Jay Chandler. From running marathons to teaching at Wayland High School to playing trombone, Chandler has the drive to succeed in it all.

When he graduated from Acton-Boxborough High School in 1974, Chandler had never been on a track or cross country team. He had participated in skiing and baseball, but when he got to college, he began running.

“I started running to lose weight. As I lost weight, I started to become faster than a lot of people I was running with, so then I started competing. It’s just a lot of fun,” Chandler said.

As Chandler’s passion began to develop, he began to take running more seriously.

Chandler competed in several marathons and wanted to fulfill his goal of running in the Boston Marathon. Though the path getting there was nerve-racking, Chandler ultimately fulfilled his dream and ran in the Boston Marathon twice.

“My first Boston Marathon stood out because it was my lifelong goal to qualify for, and run in, the Boston Marathon,” said Chandler. “The other race that stands out is the race in which I qualified for the Boston Marathon. I ran a race in upstate NY from Schenectady to Albany and I remember the whole race.”

Not only did Chandler’s experience in college develop a passion for running, but he also began to see career options open up.

“I went to college initially not really knowing what I wanted to do. Psychology sounded interesting to me, but I ended up liking the physical sciences much better,” Chandler said.

Chandler went to both the University of New Hampshire and the University of Massachusetts, receiving a chemistry degree, a psychology degree and a master’s degree in teaching.

“Psychology, I thought, would be fun out of high school, but I learned in the course of taking the psychology course that I loved chemistry,” said Chandler.

This realization directed Chandler to pursue a career in chemistry.

It was the required science classes that ignited the spark for Chandler, making him realize he wanted to pursue chemistry and physics. Chandler’s father, his high school band conductor and his high school chemistry teacher motivated him to become a teacher. Chandler saw them as role models, who he wanted to emulate.

However, it was Chandler’s father who was his main inspiration. Chandler combined the inspiration of his father with his love of chemistry to help position himself at the starting line of his career.

“I liked the lifestyle that he had, and I love science. I didn’t know at the time if I would be successful in teaching students about chemistry, but I knew that I loved it,” said Chandler. “I figured that if chemistry didn’t work, I could always go back and work in a lab somewhere, but that was 26 years ago, and I’m still teaching.”

Chandler also picked up the trombone again, 30 years after quitting, while playing at the middle school for Diane Muffitt’s adult band. Chandler developed his passion for music by playing in two concert bands, The Rivers Edge Community Band and the Chelmsford Concert Community Band.

“I just enjoyed it so much that I moved from that band to a couple other bands,” Chandler said.

As Chandler entered this new chapter of his life, running gradually became more difficult due to the destroyed cartilage that had accumulated in his feet. Although Chandler found other ways to fill up his time, he misses being able to run.

“Running makes me feel good. I can’t run much anymore, but it makes me feel good,” said Chandler.

It was the drive that Chandler developed as a marathon runner that made him realize that anything is possible.

“I figured if I could run the marathon and succeed at that, I could pretty much do anything I put my mind to,” Chandler said. “It gave me a confidence in my ability to succeed in anything I wanted to succeed at that I hadn’t before.”