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By Joe Shafran, For The Trident, U.S. Naval Academy
When we get the official list of finishers in the Boston Marathon, Monday, (April 18th).I predict that people in the running business are going to wonder how so many runners, listing their home address as Annapolis, finished among the top two hundred out of thousands in this historic race . There will be the names of the predicted winners in times of a bit over 2 hours, but the list of finishers, all in their late teens and early twenties listing Annapolis as their places of domicile, finishing the race in about 2 and a half to three hours will be members of the Naval Academy Marathon Club, quite a presence in the past two years in the world of running.
This, in my opinion, is an unusual sport. The team “plays” or runs, all away “games” so to speak .You’ve got to be at the finish line in Boston, in Richmond Virginia ,in Scranton Pennsylvania, or at various places within shouting distance of the Academy to see them, and then there’s their coach, a story in itself. He’s Nathan Nudelman, a civilian from Annapolis, purely a volunteer who runs with the Club, something I find is also intriguing. Nudelman is not a newcomer to running. He’s 29 and has been running since he was a youngster in his hometown of Dickson City, close by Scranton. He himself been scorching local courses for the past few years since his arrival here in federal law enforcement. In a race with his charges or in training , you might spot him lagging a bit behind, urging on the stragglers. The Club is made up of men and women. The Club and their coach ran in last year’s Boston Marathon so they know just how to pace themselves. Heartbreak Hill at about the twenty mile mark, the “wall” so to speak, is a “piece of cake” to them. Watch for them in their white, blue and gold among the top finishers. And, oh, yes, leave it to Army to also have a marathon club so at Boston, while there might be no trophy or no official rivalry, it will be interesting to see who beats who.
Nudelman is a member of the Annapolis Striders, some of whose members are Academy graduates and have fostered the Club training. Nudelman does get help from the military side as well and from some of his running counterparts in the Striders.
While running is a favorite in physical training at the Academy, not all the runners you see are Club Members. The Club starts its formal training Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 1600 hours, meeting at the Goat, getting their instructions and leaving as a group through Gate One, then running city streets and sidewalks and county roads, going long distances, to get in their training for the 26.2 mile marathon.
The Club has been active under Nudelman the past two years and is getting attention in the running community. Suddenly, runners in the 15 to 20 and the 20 to 25 age groups, who formerly came in among the top in all races, are finding their personal bests are not good enough. The well-trained midshipmen are now beating them. And, with the name Navy emblazed on their jerseys, they do attract a lot of attention.
I have the feeling that Nudelman and his runners have watched tapes of the Army Club and have figured out what it’s going to take to win at Boston. The marathon will be on the internet at bostonmarathon.com beginning at 1200 hours.
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