Interview with Nate Pennington

By Duncan Larkin

Nate Pennington, 31, knows the definition of hard-fought marathon progression: He’s lived it. As a member of the Army’s World-Class Athlete Program (WCAP), he suffered on the unseasonably hot streets during the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, running a 2:51:56. A few months before, in June, he ran a disappointing 2:40:02, again in unseasonably hot and humid conditions, at Grandma’s Marathon. And then it came: In December 2007, he improved his marathon time by a jaw-dropping 21 minutes—running a 2:19:35, placing fourth overall and garnering top American honors at the California International Marathon.

Pennington attended Malone College in Canton, OH, where he graduated with a degree in physical education in 2000. There, he ran track and was a two-time NCCA All-American in cross country. Pennington holds the following PRs: mile (4:16), two-mile (9:08), 10 miles (50:54), half-marathon (1:07:06), and marathon (2:19:35).

After September 11, 2001, Pennington enlisted in the Army. He currently holds the rank of Sergeant and has applied to Officer Candidate School. Pennington has a masters of science in sport administration from the University of Northern Colorado. He is currently stationed at Fort Carson, CO.

New York Road Runners: You are currently a member of the Army’s World-Class Athlete Program. Tell me about that program.

Nate Pennington: The World-Class Athlete Program is headquartered here in Fort Carson, Colorado. The basic objective of the program is to bring U.S. Army soldiers to the Olympic Trials or the Olympic Games. I was accepted conditionally [in the program] as of February 2007. I had a couple of okay races—nothing spectacular. I made the World Armed Forces Cross Country Team last year that competed in Africa and that helped.

NYRR: Did you have to try out to make it into the WCAP?

NP: Basically, you have to apply to the program. There are All-Army competitions and there’s WCAP. Under the All-Army program, the government affords you the opportunity to go to U.S. Nationals; you compete on the All-Army team and then you go back to your unit. With WCAP, the main mission is to bring soldiers to the Olympic Games—or at least the Olympic Trials. You have to have at least a national ranking or be an Olympic Trials qualifier to have an inside shot to get in. I was fortunate. The command gave me a lot of support. I was given one year of conditional status. If I can get a [2012] Trials qualifying time, then I can possibly be supported until 2012. That’s the goal of where I’m at now. Having finished the year how I finished it, it’s just great. I had run 1:07 at the Philadelphia [Distance Run] and I knew after that race that I was capable of [running an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifying time], but I was diagnosed with anemia prior to Grandma’s [Marathon] and I only ran a 2:40 there—this was like walking from mile 17 to the finish with that time. And in Chicago, it was like 84 degrees and 88 percent humidity and I just fell apart. A lot of people did. It’s hard to base a 2:40 and a 2:51 that I ran in Chicago off what I was capable of. I just knew at Philadelphia that I was coming back in form. I was getting my iron levels back up; my training was going well into the California International Marathon. I just knew if I peaked right, and did everything correct, it was going to come about. Fortunately, it did.

NYRR: You mentioned your struggles with anemia. A lot of runners deal with this problem. How did you suspect that you had it? Did your energy levels drop and your training and racing decline suddenly?

NP: It started off at the Bolder Boulder 10K. I ran an absolutely horrific time: I ran 34:46. I went through the first mile at 4:52. After that I just jogged to the finish line. Afterwards, I talked to my coach, Lisa Rainsberger, and she said that something was obviously wrong. I thought that either I was overtraining or there was something wrong physiologically. There was no reason for me to have run that slow. After that race, Lisa had me go to the clinic here in Fort Carson to get tested. My ferritin level was 20. Normal rages for a non-runner are 30-100—for a runner they should be closer to the 100 range. So after that I was diagnosed with anemia. I went into the 25K national championships in Grand Rapids. There, I came in 25th place and ran 1:23:04. After Boulder, we were aiming to get the Olympic Trials standard at Grandma’s, but I was still in an anemic state at the point. It was too late. The Army had paid for my flight and hotel room so I had to give it a shot. Those were the three races that showed that something was going on.

NYRR: Were you noticing your anemia in training as well?

NP: Yeah. It’s over 6000 feet here. In workouts I was doing repeat miles between 4:45 and 4:48 and I was feeling strong. Then I started doing them in 5:06 to 5:07.

NYRR: At the same level of effort?

NP: Yeah. It was the same level of effort, but all my workouts were going downhill. Then after I ran Bolder Boulder, I told [Coach Rainsberger] that something wasn’t right.

NYRR: Did they make you take [ferrous sulfate]?

NP: No. They put me on iron pills and put meat into my diet. It’s not that I don’t like to eat steak or anything, but I never ate that much red meat prior to this year. The past few years, it’s never really been in my diet. So I started taking the pills—eating salads, steaks, porkchops. I changed all that up. I remember Lisa saying, “You don’t realize this now, but you will when your levels go up.” Sure enough, my workouts started to get stronger; my races started to get stronger. Now I’m making sure that I’m not just eating rice and pasta.

NYRR: At the California International Marathon [CIM], you ran a 2:19. At Grandma’s, where it was hot as well, you said you walked the last nine miles. And you mentioned your problems at Chicago with the weather. It sounds like two instances of bad luck with the conditions. Do you feel then at CIM that the planets aligned for you and that was the breakthrough race? Do you consider CIM the pinnacle of your career thus far?

NP: Absolutely. The last five weeks prior to the race, I was doing my long runs in Ellicott, Colorado. It’s at 6,400 feet and up on the high plains. I was doing 18- to 22-mile runs between 5:23 and 5:50 per mile. I was wearing my heart rate monitor and my heart was at 160 beats per minute. It was bound to come. When I got into the race, I felt super light. I was with the top Kenyans through the half marathon. We hit the half at 1:07:09 and that was only three seconds off my personal best time for the half.

NYRR: That’s impressive. Admittedly, though doesn’t the CIM course have a drop at the very beginning?

NP: Yeah. The first half is real rolling. The first mile is a pretty sharp downhill and then its nothing but rolling hills for the first half; the second half is a gradual, 103-foot net drop. But yeah, when we went through the half, I didn’t freak out. I knew the training I was doing; I knew I was ready. But for the first time, I said to myself, “You’re a marathoner; you can stay with these guys.” When we hit the half, I felt like I was at my long-run pace.

NYRR: I saw a picture of you in the race. You were surrounded by Kenyans. Did you ever feel intimidated by that? Did you ever say to yourself, “I don’t belong here. What am I doing?”

NP: No. I have a different mindset. I think a lot of people, especially at the level where we’re running at, defeat themselves before the race. They think they [the Kenyans] are invincible. I lived and trained with three Kenyans in college. I know they are beatable. The CIM defending champion and I ran through the 20-mile mark together. We hit the 20-mile mark at 1:44:05 and then he dropped out. A couple of the other Kenyans dropped back too. I try not to put anyone on a pedestal. No, I never felt out of place. I beat a couple decent Kenyans in Philadelphia and I just felt good—felt like I had to stick with them as long as I could.

NYRR: Tell me about your beginnings—how you found running and why you went into the Army. I’d like to know what the Army’s done for you in terms of running.

NP: My father is a retired First Sergeant so I come from a military background. 9/11 had a big affect on me. I felt like I needed to do something with my father being in the service and my grandfather being in the service. I graduated from Malone College in Canton, Ohio. At the time, I got a bachelor of arts [degree] in physical education. I was working as a substitute teacher and a personal trainer. I felt like I was stuck in Canton: I wanted to do more with what I was doing at the time. So I enlisted in October of 2001 and came in February of 2002. As far as the Army, I was in a regular unit for the first five years. I’ve always, always had enlisted and officer personnel that have backed my running—always had the support system there. I always felt like if I ever had a chance to make it into the WCAP, then my ultimate goal would be to leave that unit as an Olympian. I know that is a big goal, but I look at guys like Brian Sell who at pme was a 2:19:55 guy. Now he’s running 2:10:47 and is on the Olympic team.

NYRR: Yeah, if you go back even further, Sell was a 10:06 two-mile guy in high school.

NP: Yeah—that too. I ran a 9:46 in high school. Brian Sell is a big motivation for me. He’s the man. As far as what WCAP has done, it’s the same thing as [the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project] or ZAP Fitness. It’s an Olympic development program, but on the military side. If I didn’t have support from the folks that have been in my unit—my command and WCAP command—there’s no way in the world I would have run 2:19. I have a great coach: Lisa Rainsberger. She was the 1985 Boston Marathon champion.

NYRR: I found on your blog that you talked about how the Hansons and ZAP Fitness guys push each other, but with WCAP you are on your own. How do the programs differ? The strength of Hansons or ZAP Fitness is the collective group that is pushing each other. Do you not have that in the WCAP program?

NP: No. In terms of the support system, WCAP is similar to the other Olympic development programs, such as having airfare and hotel accommodations. But in terms of training, no; there are only two marathoners in WCAP: Captain Emily Brzozowski and myself. She [Emily] just ran 2:45:02 at CIM to qualify for the Trials. I train 100-percent alone right now. We’ve had a lot of good runners in the program. Dan Browne, Mike Miller, and Scott Goff were in the program. We’ve had a lot of depth in terms of marathoners in the past, but when I got there last year, there were no marathoners. Emily and I both came in on conditional status. She ran a 2:55 debut marathon. She needed the “B” standard. I needed the “B” standard to have a shot to make the next quadrennium. It worked out well for us.

NYRR: You walked right into the jaws of the change in Olympic Trials standards. [In November 2007, USA Track & Field voted to change the marathon Trials qualifying standard from 2:22:00 to 2:19:00.]

NP: Yeah. Thirty-five seconds doesn’t intimidate me. I was still on 2:16:15 pace through 21 miles. It’s just a matter of me working the last five miles.

NYRR: Do you feel slighted that the standards changed?

NP: Not at all, it only adds fuel to the fire and 2:19:00 does not intimidate me. What’s 35 seconds? There is a marathon that I’m planning on running with my friend Matt Pelletier in May.

NYRR: You said that the WCAP wants Olympians. That being said, where do you see yourself in four years?

NP: That’s the objective [the Olympics]. 2:19 obviously is not in the realm of making the Olympic team, but I did that within seven months and I have a lot of people to thank for it: WCAP and my coach. I have a strong faith in the Lord; He’s done a lot for my life too. To some people it might seem absurd. As far as I’m concerned and the training I’ve gone through and the struggles I’ve gone through, I can’t stop it at 2:19. That is the mission [of WCAP]: to get soldiers to the Olympics. WCAP and the U.S. Army have done so much for me. If I’m not working harder than anyone in the military, then I’m not doing my job. That’s the goal.

NYRR: You cite in your blog that elite runner Teddy Mitchell once looked at your times and said, “If I were you, I’d just quit.” It sounds like that quote fired you up. At CIM, you just ran what you could consider a prove-yourself experience: 20-30 minutes faster than your previous two marathons. Do you feel like you redeemed yourself?

NP: Yeah. Teddy was in WCAP when I first came to Fort Carson in 2002. In saying that, he wasn’t different than anyone else. People base their opinions of what you do. Back then, the best I’d run was 53:12 for 10 miles and my marathon personal best was 2:43. The marathon was always an event that I was trying to get right. 5K, 10K to the half-marathon, I was decently competitive, but I could never get the marathon right, although I felt like I had the capability to get it right. Regarding Teddy’s quote, I always use those words to fuel me. Look at guys like Brian Sell: Who would have given him a shot years ago? So yeah, it was fuel. People doubt people all the time. Teddy’s best on the CIM course was 2:20:25. To run nearly a minute faster than he ran, it shows my capability and that if everything thing goes right, it shows what can be done in the future.

Interview conducted on January 13, 2008, and posted January 25, 2008.