Seven-time NASCAR champ Johnson to run Boston Marathon
BOSTON—Just because he won’t be surrounded by 3,300-pound cars traveling at more than 200 mph doesn’t mean Jimmie Johnson will be able to relax when he runs the Boston Marathon on Monday.
If the seven-time NASCAR champion isn’t thinking about his heart rate or his pace, he’ll be concentrating on the conditions or the course or whether he is drinking enough water.
In that way, it’s a lot like his regular job.
“If it’s a lap time I’m trying to hit or a heart rate you’re trying to hit, either way it’s not comfortable,” Johnson said during a break from the two-way training he has undertaken to get ready for a 26.2-mile footrace in the middle of the NASCAR season. “You’re in very similar head space. It’s shocking how similar it is.”
An 83-time winner on the racetrack—sixth most in Cup history—Johnson has long been a fitness freak who swam in high school and has always run and cycled to stay in shape for driving. Now 43, he has a bit of a bucket list of athletics events he wants to complete; he has already knocked off a couple of mini triathlons and half marathons as well as the Assault on Mount Mitchell, a 102.7-mile with a 10,000-foot vertical climb up a North Carolina mountain that he rode with Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth.
“Training is a part of every race car driver’s life,” said Johnson, who will wear bib No. 4848 as a nod to his No. 48 Chevrolet. “Certainly, getting ready for a marathon is more than the normal event. There’s just a lot of miles required.”
That was the biggest surprise, Johnson said, when he shifted his training from fitness to getting ready for a three-hour race. He has run up to 80 miles per week to get ready, though it tapered down to about 20 as he got closer to race day.
“It’s not like I’ve not run before, but to increase the volume and the daily miles required. It’s crazy what you put your body through,” he said. “I’m enjoying this taper right now. But honestly, I’ve loved the experience and enjoyed all the pain and suffering that comes with it.”