Newport Beach Mayor Mike Henn doesn’t just run our beautiful city. He also runs marathons. This last week, he ran the famous Boston Marathon.
The Boston Marathon is one of the oldest, most revered marathons in the world. Boasting a rich history, the marathon was founded in 1897 by several members of the Boston Athletic Association, who started a hometown race after being inspired by their marathon experience at the 1896 Olympic Games.
Since that time, the marathon has run every year (though the 1918 race featured a military relay rather than an individual race) and is now hailed as the world’s oldest annual marathon.
For those of you familiar with the territory, you’ll appreciate the historic course, which begins in the town of Hopkinton and descends point-to-point through Ashland, Framingham, Natick and Wellesley. Upon entering Newton, the course gradually rises to the famous Heartbreak Hill, and as runners reach the top, downtown Boston comes into view, a point at which runners know there is only four miles left.
For Mayor Henn, who lived in two of the towns along the course when he was a child, the marathon was especially poignant.
The Boston Marathon isn’t just for any ol’ run-of-the-mill jogger, either. Runners must qualify for entry by meeting time standards corresponding to gender and age. This is another aspect – besides its course and longevity – unique to the Boston Marathon.
As Henn tells it, the race day was picture perfect, with the temperature at a “nearly perfect 50 degrees, sunny and a slight tailwind out of the west.”
When it comes to marathons, I am guessing “tailwind” is as sweet a word as has ever been uttered.
From the sound of it, the anticipation and energy in the air on this day was palpable as nearly 24,000 racers and more than 500,000 spectators awaited the starting gun. As racers finally made it through the start and established their gaits, Henn set his pace at 8 minutes, 30 seconds per mile and kept it consistent for the first 17 miles. His time at the halfway mark would have projected to a 3:43 finish time. This steady pace, he says, helped to save energy for the long haul.
To me, he sounds like a cheetah.
But as he hit the infamous Heartbreak Hill at mile 20.5, his stamina began to wane, and as he tells it, “by the time I finished, I was completely spent. It was the toughest physical test of my life.”
That said, he did achieve his lofty goal of a sub-4 hour run, and he placed in the 26th percentile for his age group. Pretty impressive!
“The Boston Marathon was by far the most exciting and personally demanding sporting event I have ever participated in,” said the Mayor when I asked him about his experience. “For someone like me, who is not a serious runner, it was the chance of a lifetime to take part in the oldest U.S. marathon, the premier marathon event in America for serious runners.”
When I asked, was he thinking about Newport as he ran those long miles far from home?
“I was proud to wear my Mayoral lapel pin on my race bib in honor of Newport Beach. I hope it shows up in the finish line picture!”
Lynn Selich is a marketing communications and public relations consultant residing in Newport Beach. Follow her on Facebook at Lynn Selich-Columnist. She can also be reach at LynnSelich@yahoo.com.
