By Mike Grenier
Eric Marenburg had just finished his first-ever marathon in San Diego last year and he was physically spent.
The former Peabody High runner had found it gratifying to run the 26 miles in under three hours and it was emotionally fulfilling. Even at age 24, the marathon was incredibly taxing.
"I remember talking to one of the other finishers and saying, 'I don't know if I can do this anymore.' The guy looked at me and said, 'Give it a week and you'll see,'" recalled Marenburg.
Marenburg never did get the man's name, but he thought seriously about what he said. And within a week, his mind was already making the cross country trip home for today's 113th running of the Boston Marathon.
Now 25 years old, Marenburg feels more educated not just about what it takes to run a marathon, but what's required to excel in such a grueling race.
San Diego, where Marenburg now resides, was a shot-in-the-dark race for him. He had no marathon experience, yet he finished in 2:53.53 and placed 62nd out of approximately 20,000 runners. A comparable time in Boston would've netted him 638th place overall, which is still nothing to snicker about in a field of 25,000.
Of course, Boston is a completely different animal when it comes to marathons. Unlike San Diego, you can't predict the temperature or the humidity or the number of obstacles from mile to mile. Unless you've done it before, you don't know how you're going to handle the hills (physically and psychologically) at the 20-mile mark. There are so many more variables in Boston and you have to juggle them and adjust to them from minute to minute.
Marenburg takes all of this into consideration, but his goal since qualifying for Boston hasn't changed. He'd like to crank out a 2:40 or even do a little better than that. If he can pull that off, it would probably put him among the top 200 runners in one of the elite races in the world.
"It's exciting to take part in your hometown marathon," said Marenburg, a 2001 Peabody High grad who's been staying with his parents, Alan and Ann, in Peabody during his final preparation for Boston. "To know you got there as an (official) qualifier is really good. I have family and friends here and everyone is excited to see me run. If I can run that kind of time and be in the top 200, it seems like that would be fun for them to see me run.
"I haven't run the Boston course yet, I've just driven it. I was home in January and got a feel for it. Just being around it, I have an idea of where the pitfalls are. It's incredibly downhill the first half of the course and if you're not careful about the hills later on, it'll come back to bite you. But I think a (2:40) is attainable based on some of my workouts."
Fernando Braz, who runs a coaching service called Going The Distance and who coached him in high school, says it would be unwise to underestimate Marenburg's running ability and determination. This is a kid who worked his way into the University of Maryland track program, a Division 1 team, as a walk on his freshman year. He's not exactly shy about competing against the best.
"When he was at Peabody High, he was a miler and two miler," Braz said of Marenburg. "He was consistent, but it wasn't until his senior year that he peaked and got on the radar. We communicated when he was in college and he's come a long way. The great thing about Eric is that he has a balanced life. He has a good job in San Diego but he's able to get himself fit enough to run Boston. He'd like to do the 2:40 and if he can accomplish that, he'll be in one of the top percentiles of that race."
Marenburg discovered that he could make it at Maryland by outworking some of the more highly-touted recruits the school wanted. It was a valuable lesson that he's never forgotten.
"They had a great academic program at Maryland and I loved the school," said Marenburg. "I saw the (cross country and track) teams they had and felt there was an opportunity to walk on. I worked much harder than I ever had in high school to make it. They brought in more talented guys and I was off the team (as a junior), but I used Fernando's workouts, stayed in shape and earned a spot on the team again as a senior.
"Fernando (Braz) is a friend to me before he's a coach," added Marenburg, talking about his former coach's strong influence. "He knows all about this sport and as busy as he is, he'll help you with whatever you need. He'll do that for any of his athletes and he never asks for anything in return."
After moving to San Diego for job reasons, Marenburg found the climate seductive. To this day, he sometimes wonders why he's running early Saturday mornings instead of heading to the beach with his friends. But that feeling doesn't last. The lure of running still predominates.
"The weather in San Diego is so beautiful, it's hard not to run every day," said Marenburg, whose older sister, Rachel, was scheduled to run a half marathon in Salt Lake City over the weekend. "Before I knew it, I signed up for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (series) in San Diego. I trained solo and had no specific goals for my first marathon."
Today he does have a specific goal and nothing would be sweeter than to do it in front of family and friends.
