As Marathon Monday approaches, Tufts' Boston Marathon team is winding down its 2012-2013 training season in preparation for the race. The group of 96 official runners completed its final training run on Wednesday and awaits a celebratory dinner Sunday night after the race.
President's Marathon Challenge director and TMT Coach Don Megerle, a 42-year Tufts veteran who coached swimming for 33 years before the establishment of the marathon team, expressed great optimism about the coming marathon. This will be the team's tenth marathon since President Emeritus Lawrence Bacow established the President's Marathon Challenge in 2003.
"I think we're very well prepared, probably as informed as any group that we have had - and very spirited," Megerle said. "It's become a real, cohesive and enjoyable group to be with. They've done very well."
The team is coming to the end of its second year of reduced numbers, Mergele said. The 10-year contract with team owner John Hancock Financial Services was renegotiated to extend the two remaining years of 200 runners to four years of 100 Tufts runners.
The contract will expire after the 2015 Boston Marathon, according to Megerle. It is not clear how the Tufts Marathon Team will continue to operate.
"We don't know what will happen," Megerle said. "We may not get any [running] numbers. It's up to the CEO at John Hancock. Do they understand the importance of the Boston Marathon for Boston? Very much so. I can't even venture to guess what they might do."
Aside from being an athletic group, TMT is an important financial institution: each year, the group generates donations and fundraising in excess of $500,000, Megerle said. According to him, they were able to raise about $597,000 last year for the Friedman School of Nutrition and Science Policy's research on adolescent obesity and for a personalized performance program that trains students to become fitness trainers.
Marathon training began about a month after last year's marathon, consisting of three mornings each week, Megerle said. Runners begin on Tuesdays with repeated lap-running exercise called intervals, increasing speed with each lap and then repeating the exercise with a longer distance. Wednesday and Sunday see longer runs, usually seven to 11 miles, with training on the actual marathon course on Sundays.
Scott Snyder, a first year student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a new member of the team, is running his first Boston Marathon this year. He recalled seeing a number of others training on the course during the long practices.
"You'll see thousands of other runners, because they're all training for the marathon as well," Snyder said. "You get to know the routes, you get to know the people running it and obviously you get to know your teammates really well."
Snyder ran his first marathon last summer in Inner Mongolia and said that he chose to run in Boston because of the history and variation in the race.
"There's a bunch of hills right smack in the middle of it, which makes it pretty difficult, and you never know what you're going to get in terms of weather," Snyder said. "Last year, it was 85, 90 degrees and people were dropping like flies. You've got headwinds, tailwinds, it could be snowing or raining ... Plus, the crowds are just huge."
Megerle expressed little worry about the conditions on race day. During the 11-month training season, he said, the team runs regardless of the weather, braving even two-foot snowstorms to keep their schedule intact.
Joe Lessard (E '12) said Megerle made an effort to connect with every team member, even through the toughest parts of training.
As the race approaches, runners enter the taper period, in which they reduce their workouts, carefully watch their food intake and allow their bodies to heal, conserving energy for the big race, according to Megerle.
Ironically, this is a particularly trying time for runners, who have become used to regular and intense exercise over the past months, Lessard said.
"It's a tough time of year, because mentally you have to be tough," Lessard said. "Everyone goes through that period of self-doubt where you're saying, 'I should be running, am I gaining weight?' You're basically just sitting on the couch. Having someone who can talk to you about it and anticipate those times is great. [Megerle] knew exactly what to say and exactly what I needed."
On Monday, Megerle will watch from prepared posts at the nine-mile mark and the finish line, he said. Virtually all of the team will complete the race - only one student failed to cross the finish line last year, according to Megerle.
"To see the runners at [mile] nine, it's indescribable," he said. "Then, to see them at the finish...Larry [Bacow], he started coming with me to the finish line. His first year, he said, 'This is unbelievable, I've never seen anything like this in my life.' It's so powerful."
