OU T D O O R S
KEEPING Year after year, the Boston Marathon draws the most elite runners in the world – and more than a few Outer Bankers.
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Photo by Cory Godwin / Story by Steve Hanf
he national championship. The pinnacle. The ultimate. The common man’s Olympics. There are more phrases than miles when it comes to describing the experience of running in the Boston Marathon. It’s the reason so many local runners slog through their neighborhoods on cold, rainy evenings or train endlessly on the hill at the Wright Brothers Memorial, day after day. Because, sure, the scenery is beautiful here on the Outer Banks – but as Nags Head resident Tom Thomas tells it, those 26.2 miles through Boston are hallowed ground. “Getting to run it was probably the biggest privilege I’ve ever had,” explains Tom, who ran a blistering 2:59 at the age of 49 in 2017 – putting him number 1,271 out of 26,400 entrants and 78th in his age group. “Most people will never know what it’s like for a pro athlete to run out of the tunnel during the Super Bowl. But that’s kind of what Boston felt like.” Considering the small size of the Outer Banks community, there’s a remarkably large contingent of locals who have conquered Heartbreak Hill and the rest of the world’s most famed course. Some have run it once, others every time they qualify. And some have struggled race after race just to get there in April so they can bask in the glow of finally being a Boston Marathon finisher. “It’s such a beautiful event,” says Kitty Hawk real estate agent Jessie Jennings, the local with the longest streak of consecutive appearances at Boston with six straight. “After my first year in 2014, I kept getting back in, so I just kept going.” Jessie doesn’t know how long she’ll try to keep this streak, which she started at the age of 30 after being inspired by Outer Banks Marathon runners along the Manteo waterfront. “For now, I’m happy with the experiences I’ve had,” explains Jessie, who set a personal record of 3:15 in 2015. “It’s been a really awesome race to get to participate in. No matter how many times I go, it feels like the first time.” 18 | S PR I N G 2020
For others, such as Pete Barranti, longevity was a one-time goal. After running Boston five years in a row, he was aiming to join the “Quarter Century Club” – an elite group of runners who have completed the Boston Marathon at least 25 consecutive times – before a pulmonary embolism made it hard to catch his breath during training. But while starting a new 25-year streak probably isn’t feasible now at the age of 62, Pete definitely plans to earn another qualifying time and a return ticket north. After all, simply qualifying is what drove him to run Boston from 2015 to 2019. “To get into Boston, I think you’re in the top four percent of all marathon runners in the world,” Pete says. “So the questions are: Am I good enough again, can I make it in? Qualifying is the real challenge.” He knows this from experience. The first time Pete went after a qualifying time, he missed it by 29 seconds. On his next attempt, he was a minute and 22 seconds better than the qualifying time – until so many people signed up for Boston that year that the cutoff changed, and he missed it by 16 seconds. “I ended up waiting a year and a half to find out I wasn’t going,” he says. “A year later, I beat my time by five minutes, nine seconds, so I knew I was going. After that, my goal was to beat the qualifying time by five minutes or more to guarantee getting in. I did that for five years straight.” But just how hard is it to qualify? Times for the 2020 race range from three hours flat for men in the 18 to 34 age bracket to 3:50 for those in the 60 to 64 age group. For women, it’s 3:30 for the youngest age set, and 4:18 in the 60 to 64 category. And Pete isn’t the only local who’s struggled to qualify. Sherry Celesia’s next marathon will be her 50th, but getting into the one that mattered most proved frustrating. The first time she really tried to qualify, she missed the time by two minutes. After overhauling her entire training regimen, she took 10 minutes off that time, then 10 minutes off the next one. After a lot of hard work, she ran the 2009 Boston Marathon in 4:22 at the age of 53. “When you talk to anybody about doing a marathon, they always go, ‘Have you done Boston?’ and for years I would say, ‘No, I haven’t qualified – because it’s so hard,’” Sherry explains. “I think I smiled the entire time I was in Boston, because it took me 33 marathons to get there.” Manteo resident Shane Miles also needed a little help to make it to Boston. Prior to qualifying, the appropriately named runner had logged a dozen marathons in the 3:45 range, but he didn’t seem to be getting any faster. “You know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” Shane says good-naturedly. “I had seen some of my friends qualify for Boston, and I asked if I could join them. That definitely changed my
