Penning runs Boston Marathon

Nicholas Penning, formerly of Hulett, can now say he's run the Boston Marathon.

Penning started running around junior high for track but started to seriously consider the sport later in high school after his 1600-meter state championship win during his junior year in Hulett.

"Running truly took root in me during my college years where I developed a greater appreciation for the sport," he says. Even after he graduated college, he still had the desire to train for long distance races and more specifically, the marathon.

Penning says there are a few reasons he wanted to run the marathon.

"The first is simply because I wanted to experience the 120+ year old race that many people have heard of, so a bucket list item for sure. Another reason is because two of my friends had been itching to run the race as well. Lastly, I believe that one of the best ways to experience new places is by exploring them by foot. To do this, I have found running is the most efficient way since you cover quite a bit of ground in a relatively shorter amount of time compared to walking," Penning says.

The runner started to train right after a 5k race on November 14, 2021, because, "my friend said we should train for Boston 2023, and I agreed to do so."

"One and a half years later, we made it to the starting line."

Penning had qualified with one of his friends to run the race back in 2020 but the pandemic prevented the race from happening. The following year, he would have been able to race but didn't keep up his training.

Penning stated that the hard part about training for the Boston Marathon is that you need to qualify for by running another marathon in a specific time window.

"I was able to do that with a marathon in June, 2022, which locked in my position to be able to compete in the Boston marathon," states Penning.

To be able to compete at the Boston marathon, there are time standards based on gender and age. Nicholas was in the 18-34 category, which required a qualifying marathon time of three hours.

However, not everyone that qualifies is guaranteed entry to the race since they are only able to handle a limited number of runners. The faster your time, the greater chance you will have to be selected as a participant for the race.

This year, all applicants that had hit a qualifying time were able to compete, which is very uncommon.

Penning says he really enjoyed the time he spent in Boston to run the race. The runner goes on to say that, although he was running the race for nearly three hours, he spent a lot of time with his two friends there exploring Boston, navigating the logistics of such a large race and taking in all the surrounding culture, which was an experience by itself

Penning ran 2 hours 52 minutes and 33 seconds, which is an average of 6 minutes and 35 seconds per mile.

"I placed 2206 out of nearly 30,000 entrants for my first Boston Marathon," he states.

"It was so packed at the start that, when the gun went off, it took me almost 30 seconds to a minute to cross the starting line where my time would officially start. I was packed nearly shoulder to shoulder with other athletes with little room in front or behind so I really couldn't control how fast or slow I was moving for the first five to six miles before some gaps started to open," the runner says.

"This was okay because it was fun to run with so many people and have spectators that appeared to align the enter course which was exciting. The weather was fantastic for nearly the whole race, which also made for a great experience," he continues.

When asked if there was a memorable moment, he states that it was around mile 21 when he saw the sign for "congrats, you have summited heartbreak hill". He smiled, he says, because it was not nearly as hard as people always make it out to be.

Penning says he would like to run another marathon in the fall, but this will depend on how recovering from Boston goes first.

"I would like to do Boston again now that I know a lot more about how the race operates and even how the course is, but I will only do it if I can go there with friends and family because it would be fun to do additional exploration of the east coast."