Well-conditioned Nunzio ready to compete in marathon
By: Justin Feil
Michael Nurzia was living the surgical resident’s life when he started to notice that he was losing the toned appearance that had once helped him play lacrosse in college and wrestle in high school. Little by little, it was getting a little harder to see his own toes from a standing position.
"I got in lousy shape," said the 33-year-old, who will finish his residency at the Medical Center at Princeton in July. "One of the compensation things for being a resident is they give you free food."
It went all to his waistline. Doing something about it was a priority, but not easy with the hours he was committed to in the hospital.
"Most residents are in survival mode," noted the urology resident. "It’s hard to just start working out. You have to have some momentum that carries you into that. I just lucked out and started going."
Nurzia squeezed in runs whenever possible at first, and slowly worked himself into better shape. Then, he jumped in a few local races. Those races grew longer and longer until he was training for a marathon.
"I did a few of the half marathons in New York through the New York Road Runners Club," Nurzia said. "Then, I just figured I’m going to go all the way and run a marathon. And I did. I just went by the Runners’ World recommended regimen. My goal for my first one was to go 3:10 or below. I think my time was 3:09.19. Every mile I was calculating what I needed to make it. Then there’s that last part and you don’t know how much you have. That was torture."
The effort left him throwing up at the New York City Marathon finish line in 2002, but it was worth it as he slipped under the Boston Marathon qualifying standard of 3:10. What was more gut-wrenching was missing out on the Boston Marathon last spring.
"I had a last-minute work commitment on the same day," said the Princeton resident. "So I ran the Jersey Shore Marathon.
"At first, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to run anything. The Jersey Shore Marathon was a week later, the Sunday after. I managed to do that. All the training you put in, I didn’t want to throw it away. I was fortunate there was another one in the vicinity. This year, I’m actually committed to go to Boston."
Nothing can stop Nurzia, who finished the Jersey Shore Marathon in 3:05:09 last April.
"I’ve been running on my training regimen for four months," he said. "I’m ready to do it."The Boston Marathon regular start is noon Monday. Almost 20,000 runners are expected, and Nurzia will be running his first Boston Marathon.
About 20 miles of running will bring Nurzia to his undergraduate alma mater, Boston College, but he’s most excited to finally get a chance to compete in it. That, as much as his lack of conditioning, brought him back to running.
"That’s a big reason I do it," he said. "I miss competing. I love to run. When it comes to marathon training, you get a little burned out. But I do like running, mostly when it’s warm. I can’t stand this cold weather."
Nurzia does long runs on the weekends and puts in shorter runs at night when he’s not on call. A favorite course takes him to the canal towpaths. The rest of his time is split between his family, which includes a 16-month-old son, and his time as a resident. He’ll be in Princeton until July 1, after which he returns to Robert Wood Johnson for one more year of training. Those factors have made consistent marathon training tougher.
"This time, I have a little baby so my training has been a little less intense," he said. "I have no idea how I’m going to do. I haven’t had time to do any racing really, so I have no clue how my race ability is."
One thing is for sure, however. Michael Nurzia is in much better racing condition than he was just over three years ago. He has the Boston Marathon entry to prove it, and this year he plans on using it.