Atmore native Alan Ash finished in 39th place of the 2016 Boston Marathon on Monday, finishing the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 31 minutes and 16 seconds.

Ash, who is a cross-country coach at Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery, has ran the Boston Marathon three years in a row. Last year, he finished the race 127th overall, and in 2014, he finished 148th.

“It’s always a special experience,” Ash said about running in the marathon. “There’s a lot of work and training that goes into a marathon. When you get here, it’s a new experience. It’s a celebration of your work and putting that to use. It was special.”

Ash said in his last two Boston Marathons, he’s developed a strategy to improve his times — staying consistent and steady the first 20 miles and pushing it the last six.

There were 30,741 runners who entered the race. Twenty-seven-thousand-four-hundred-and-eighty-seven started the race, and 26,639 participants finished. He was the 15th American to cross the finish line.

For the complete story, see Wednesday’s edition of The Atmore Advance.