Connery, Johnson train for 2012 Boston Marathon

J.P. Bartmess- Sports Editor
2/10/12

Twenty-six and two-tenths miles in less than three hours and 40 minutes. That is the time to beat in order to qualify for the 2012 Boston Marathon for women in the age range of 18-34. To put this in perspective, that is running a mile every eight and half minutes and doing that 26.2 times. In this race, there will be runners from all over the world. And this year, two women from William Jewell College will be there.
Jess Connery, junior, and Jessie Johnson, sophomore, are members of the Jewell cross country and track and field teams. How they both got to the point this past November to begin training for the 2012 Boston Marathon is a simple story which both are eager to share.
“Last December [2010], we both ran in a half-marathon. We did well and then ran a full one last May at [NAIA] Track Nationals. Our times qualified us for the Boston Marathon so we submitted them and got a high enough ranking to be accepted,” Johnson said.
While qualifying for the Boston Marathon is no joke, Johnson admitted that they were doing the full and half-marathon races just for fun. However, having qualified for the race, which is about two months away, both women have increased their training.
“We have been running about twice a day since November. We didn’t train as much for our last full marathon so we learned from that and have increased our work load. I can see us getting a lot faster in training and in our [track and field] meets,” Johnson said.
While there are hundreds of marathons put on every year in the United States, not many get as much attention as the Boston Marathon. Celebrities such as Will Ferrell, Shia LaBeouf and Drew Carey have participated in this race as well as Olympic athletes, some of whom will be participating in this summer’s London 2012 Games.
“We really don’t know how big or what to expect with this. I think it will hit us when we’re there. Boston is a cool town with a lot of history, so the whole experience itself will be memorable, especially getting to do it with Jessie,” Connery said.
The 2011 Boston Marathon men and women champions Geoffrey Mutai and Caroline Kilel of Kenya are coming back for the 116th running of the race on April 16, along with eight men and women runners who finished in the top 10 of the race last year. On the women’s side, the time to beat is expected to be below two hours and 20 minutes. Kilel ran it in 2:22:36 for the win last year.
In two months, one might see that only time will tell if this training was worth it. However, both of these women made it clear that no matter what happens one thing will stay true to them.
“To be honest, I just want to finish, do my best and have fun. This is such a big event to be a part of, and it is easy to get trapped in it all. This is a cool opportunity for both of us to be running in this, and I hope we enjoy every moment of it,” Connery said.