Mchenry’s first challenge is Boston
By: Justin Feil
Ian McHenry has some big plans before he walks in Princeton University’s graduation ceremonies May 31.
He’s already set himself up for that day by handing in his thesis last week. Next up, McHenry will run in the 109th running of the Boston Marathon on Monday. Then in the week before graduation, McHenry and several friends from Princeton will scale Mount Rainier.
"The marathon is tougher," said the 22-year-old senior from Claremont, Calif. "The climb up Mount Rainier is more dangerous. There are no crevasses going up Heartbreak Hill."
McHenry will be tackling his first Boston Marathon as one of almost 20,000 runners scheduled to compete Monday. For McHenry, it’s a chance to do something he recently considered while also preparing for the Mount Rainier challenge.
"I went back over Christmas break and a lot of old friends and coaches were talking about coming out to run Boston," McHenry said. "I thought that was great. They’re coming out from California. One of my coaches got hurt and won’t be running, but at least one of my old coaches will be there. Also, it’s sort of an excuse to get ready to climb Mount Rainier.
"I’ve climbed mountains. I think the marathon will be tougher. It seems like the pain lasts forever."
At least, it lasted a long time after McHenry’s first marathon. That race was a year and a half ago and enabled McHenry to qualify for the Boston Marathon with a finish time under 3 hours, 10 minutes.
"I ran my first and only marathon in Budapest two years ago," he said. "I was studying abroad in Budapest. Saw these big billboards for the ‘Budapest Marathon.’ I trained for it and ran 3:07."
McHenry, a part of the nationalism studies program at Central European University that fall semester, was the first American finisher at the Budapest Marathon, but admits he had little thought at the time about running in the Boston Marathon. Now it seems like a perfect thing to do.
"When you tell someone you’re running Boston, they perk up," McHenry said. "It’s seen as the race to run in the states. It’s one of few that has a qualifying time."
He got into marathoning rather innocently, though it’s not surprising for someone who likes to spend his spare time testing his limits hiking, rock climbing or even surfing. All those may be put on hold when he begins his investment banking job in Florida after graduation, which makes it that much more important to get out and do as much as he can now.
He’s always been a runner, but he got into rock climbing after coming to Princeton. That interest has taken off and brought him the idea of climbing Mount Rainier.
"Mount Rainier is the most semi-legit mountaineering that you can do in the lower 48 (states)," he said. "It’s the first somewhat hard-core thing I’ve done. We all work at the climbing wall at Princeton. We decided it’s a lot more fun to get to top of things 14,000 feet high than 100 feet. So it’s a natural progression.
"I’ve always hiked before," he added. "I never got into high altitude, alpine mountaineering stuff. Having done cross country before, it was conducive to doing hiking. If you can run marathons and keep your heart rate low, that’s perfect to go up above 20,000 feet. The two go together."
It makes more sense that if you like to run as much as McHenry does, you move on to trying marathons. He’s not talking about the ultra-marathons that some friends are starting to undertake. But going up to the marathon distance was a natural progression.
"I was a high school cross country runner at Claremont," McHenry said. "I ran there for varsity all four years. Then I helped coach the team for a couple years when I left over the summer. I did what every worn-out cross country runner does. I started running longer distances.
"I didn’t know anything about it (qualifying). I just figured Boston is here, it’s close, it’s something to do. I didn’t think about doing Boston at all last year. I just guess schoolwork and everything gets in the way. As senior, I have nothing else to do."
It’s not entirely true. McHenry has had to juggle training with finishing off his thesis, something that wasn’t a factor for Budapest. Nonetheless, he feels better prepared for his second marathon.
"For Budapest, I just trained over the summer for cross country with the team," McHenry said. "I was running 70-mile weeks. It was more two-a-days with shorter distances. For this one, I’ve been doing more 20-mile days and 15-mile days. My thesis stuff was due last week so it wasn’t quite as much as I had wanted. I was a little more consistent, but not as thorough.
"The distance is really what you need. At Budapest, the first half marathon was easy. I could run off 7-minute miles easy. It kicked in after 17 miles, I was in cross country shape and not marathon shape. That hurt a lot."
A better-trained McHenry hopes that the payoff is an easier final nine miles in Boston Monday than he faced in Budapest. Though it will be his first time on the course, McHenry is confident he can do well.
"Hopefully, we’ll see. The elevation is going to decrease, he said. "It’s downhill in general. It’s fast. I don’t have any real big goals besides breaking three hours. My coach who wanted to run 2:45 isn’t coming. I would have trained harder if I knew I had to face up to him."
Instead, Ian McHenry has only to face up to his own goals and dreams before graduation. One of them is climbing Mount Rainier. First, however, he’ll look to finish the Boston Marathon on Monday.

