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Going the distance
Two years ago Rycroft asked the 44yearold Moorpark resident if he wanted to run with him in the Los Angeles Marathon. Although Hennick had no prior running experience, he thought about the question and decided that competing in a 26-mile race was something he wanted to do at least once in his life. Hennick beat his nephew in the first race and liked competing in the marathon so much that in the next two years he would compete in 12 more. On June 3, at the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon, Hennick for the first time ran a marathon in under three hours by finishing with a time of 2:57:50. "It was a great feeling to finish under three hours in a marathon," Hennick said. "I like running in overcast weather more than hot weather, and that day it just happened to be overcast. I've been told that if you place under three hours that you are in the top 1 percent of runners at a marathon. So, knowing that, it feels pretty good." Although Hennick placed No. 111 in San Diego, his success did not come overnight. "At first, when I asked people if I should run a marathon, everyone told me not to do it," Hennick said. "I really didn't know what to expect in the first one. I prepared by running around my house, and I would get to 20 miles and not believe that I had six miles still to go." Hennick ran a time of 4 hours, 28 minutes in his first marathon, but hit the wall in the San Jose marathon when he collapsed and was unable to finish. After the race in San Jose, Hennick started to train with three marathon runners from the Conejo Valley. "The people I train with now have given me some very good advice, such as not to wear a fanny pack with water," Hennick said. "I told them at first that I needed it and there was no way I could finish a race without having my water. But they convinced me to run a race without it, and I was okay. Also, it's a lot less weight to run with." Nowadays Hennick gets up as early as 4 a.m. to run before work. On average, Hennick said he runs 60 to 70 miles per week. Hennick said he tries to live by a motto that states: "Do your homework if you want to ace the test." "Usually, before a marathon, I will study a course by driving through it once to see where I go," Hennick said. "Besides that, the main thing I do a week before a marathon is try to stay healthy and rest." As time passed, Hennick started to see improvements in his times. In his second marathon, Hennick ran a 3:36 before improving to a 3:18, 3:06 and a 3:03 before his 2:57 in San Diego. Hennick has run marathons in Utah, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, San Jose and San Francisco. He said his favorite race to date was the Boston Marathon. "I love the Boston Marathon because it's the only one where you have to qualify in to run," Hennick said. "The qualifying time was 3:20, and I ran a 3:18 in my previous race, so I was able to go. It was nice to take the family to Boston and get to see all the landmarks while I was running." In addition to the environment, Hennick said a good thing about the Boston Marathon is the competition. "At most marathons you will see people slow down to have pictures taken of them by family members," Hennick said. "Not in Boston; everyone there takes running just as seriously as you do, and they are there because they've trained hard like you." Hennick said he has lost about 30 pounds since he began running marathons. He has seen a change in the way he runs now. "I have more intensity running now," Hennick said. "Today a 3:30 marathon time would seem like a jog. However, I'm still a novice at this, and I'm still learning. I like running in these races because I get to see where I compare with other people my age. I also like it because in this sport, there is no cheating." |
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