V. Hugh Lewis II
Jefferson Jimplecute
It all started with a dream. A dream of running in the oldest, and most distinguished marathon in the US: Boston.
Jeffersonian Gabby Wennerstrom accomplished her dream of qualifying and running in the Boston Marathon last Monday.
“It’s a course to be respected, hands down,” said Wennerstrom. “I wasn’t anticipating the roads being so narrow. They let us go in waves, but there’s 30,000 of us, and we’re put in fast groups for a reason. It was congested, and I felt bottlenecked at times. It was like a weird game of checkers and I had to constantly look where my next move needed to be.”
Wennerstrom has been preparing and racing in marathons the last couple of years. She finished the marathon with a time of 3:26:13 and 2,035th place.
“Time wise, I didn’t meet my personal or lifetime best,” she said, “but to be 2:17 off my personal record is unimaginable.”
She said running in Boston meant running in a different kind of weather too.
“The weather was better in Boston than it is in Texas. It’s dry with no humidity,” she said. “It was cold at the start and I didn’t have to take into account sweat coming down onto my face.”
The hills were the most difficult part of the race she said.
“Most of the race is downhill until the 16-mile mark. Then there’s the Newton Hills. There are four of them and they’re straight up for a mile and then spread over the 16-21 mile markers. I felt really good before I hit the hills. By the time I got to [mile 21] my legs were trashed. Finding something that steep in Jefferson — well, you don’t know until you do it. But, the hill towards Dr. Bradley’s [home] will become a regular part of my training.”
She did get to meet and socialize with a number of the front runners during the PUMA.
“To see the elite in their element was amazing,” she said. “But not only that, but Boston is the biggest stage for a marathon. To get in, you either have to qualify, or donate $10,000 to charity. The whole thing is like royalty there. You’re just surrounded by the best people in the world in running.”
This year was the 50th anniversary of women being allowed to run in the marathon, and Wennerstrom said she “did get to meet the original women’s elite team.”
Her time qualified her to run again next year, but she says she has a lot of training to do before then.
“Before I walked into this, I got a trainer. He was 15th in the 2021 marathon. We figured [for this year] I was in a sub 3-hour marathon. But I didn’t start off as fast as I probably should have.”
Her next race in in Indianapolis in the fall. “We have a good goal,” she said. “I’ll take to shorter distances to gain speed and see what real raw speed I can take. I’m really hoping in next couple of years to get there. I’d love to see a sub 3 marathon. But For me to just requalify and get another shot at it is awesome.“