You have to be dedicated to be a distance runner, especially when you live in snowbound Prince George.
Training indoors on a treadmill is a necessary evil on the days Mother Nature unleashes her wrath.
It’s been even more difficult to stay motivated when the fun of racing has been taken away, as it was during a nearly two-year-long worldwide hiatus the pandemic imposed on the running world.
For marathon runner Jacqui Pettersen, that 2 1/2-year break meant virtual races would have to suffice and despite being qualified to run the Boston Marathon and other huge international races in 2020, she stayed mostly grounded, waiting for normalcy to return.
That day came on Monday when the 50-year-old neurologist and associate professor at UNBC competed in the 126th running of the world’s most prestigious marathon. And she didn’t just compete in the Boston Marathon, Pettersen knocked it out of the park, finishing seventh out of 1,107 runners in the 50-54-year-old women’s category.
Pettersen posted the 801st-fastest female time and placed 6,172nd overall in a field of 25,314 runners, finishing the 42.2-kilometre course in three hours 14 minutes nine seconds.
“My pace wasn’t quite what I’d hoped, based on the training effort I put in, but I felt really good the whole way, so I was pleased about that,” said Pettersen.
“I think that’s because I ran the early downhill sections conservatively and this allowed me to run the later uphill sections between kilometres 25 and 35, when you’re really starting to get tired, with some power in my legs. When I crossed the finish line I still had some energy left and I think I can be happy about that, that it felt good and I enjoyed the race.”
Her Boston time Monday was third-fastest of the 11 in-person marathons Pettersen has completed. Her persona best happened in Berlin in 2019 when she clocked 3:01:18. She finished the London Marathon in 2019 in 3:08. Pettersen’s Boston time this year was 36 minutes faster than the first time she tackled the course in 2017.
Monday’s race was run in sunny but cool conditions with a light headwind most of the way. The start temperature was 4C and it warmed to 9C by midday.
“Boston is known to be one of the most challenging marathon courses, with al the hills,
“It starts with a downhill for the first seven kilometres and if you don’t play it smart and hold back enough, you basically trash your quads and you’ve got nothing left for the uphills. It’s hard to know how to do that optimally.
“I hadn’t had any in-person races in over 2 ½ years, so lots of treadmill training and some outdoor training, of course, because I had to put some time in on the hills. I probably didn’t do as much (cross-country) skiing as I could have, and it may have helped more if I had done more. I skied every second day, on average, but not long skis. My main goal was to put in a solid training effort that pushed my limits a bit, bit to the point I was exhausted or developed an injury.”
Kenyan runners Peres Jepchirchir and Evans Chebet, the respective women’s and men’s champions in Boston, obviously had their race strategies planned well. Kechiche’s winning time was 2:21:01, while Chebet crossed the finish in 2:06:51.
One other Prince George runner entered the race. Marie Chapman, 68, posted a finishing time of 4:24:43. Chapman placed 65th in her 66-69-year-old age division and was 8,174th in the women’s field and 20,457th overall. Pettersen met Chapman at the airport in Prince George on the way to Boston and had hoped to see her at the race but that didn’t happen.
“She battled a few injuries over the course of her training and I was surprised how well she did, despite that,” said Pettersen.
Pettersen and her husband Kevin are entered in the London Marathon, Oct. 2. Kevin, 50, ran the five km event Saturday Boston and posted a near-personal-best time of 24:19 and they also plan to race in the Kelowna Wine Country half-marathon on June 18.
Jacqui is also qualified to race the Tokyo Marathon in March 2023. The pandemic forced cancellation of that race in 2021 and 2022. She’s raced marathons in Boston, Berlin, New York, London and Chicago. and Tokyo is the only race of the big-six she’s never been to.
