Stuart Jenkins

Stuart Jenkins of ran the *official* third fastest Boston Marathon by a resident Mainer - (2:21.37 in 1982). Mr. Jenkins also tied for winning the 1981 Paul Bunyan Marathon in 1981. He currently is the CEO of Principa College in Elsah, Illinois.

RK Special Notes...Stuart's fastest and perhaps the fastest marathon by a Mainer at Boston I have found written second hand was 2:18.46, 4 seconds away from qualifying in the Olympics - I'm not sure of the year - but Stuart explains why I haven't found it yet in the record books. I'm going to do some further research on this.

RK:

I am currently doing some research about Mainers who competed in the Boston Marathon.  Your performance is one of the top performances that have been recorded by a runner from Maine of 2:21.37 in 1982.

As we approach the Boston Marathon once again - I was wondering if you could share 3 tips that you would pass on to runners in 2006.  I would share these tips with runners from Maine.

SJ:

Ryan,
 
Thanks for your note.  It is always fun to hear from a fellow runner.  The folks in Boston "misprinted" my home state one year.  They listed me from ME instead of NE or Nebraska, which is in fact my home state.  I take pride in the fact that my family's roots are in Calais, Maine before they started a cattle ranching operation in Nebraska.
 
The Bangor marathon was a training run with my college buddy Mark Whalley but it was none the less a good run and fun to win.
 
Three Tips for Boston:

1.)  When training for Boston, if you can take a hilly route home or flat route home - take the hills!

2.)  Run the first ten miles way too slow.  Everyone goes out too fast and if you do that you will pay.

3.) Run the first 20 miles at a pace you know you can keep for 26 miles and when you get to the top of  heartbreak hill go like heck!  Fly home but this takes fitness and courage.
 
 If you follow steps two and three you will run a PR on a very easy course! I ran five PR's at Boston in trials.
 
Good Luck
 
Stuart