SCOTSBURN – Time won’t wait, not even for Dave MacLennan.
“I won’t be the oldest, but I’m getting up there for a marathon runner,” says MacLennan, the Scotsburn athlete who will race in the Blue Nose Marathon on Sunday in Halifax.
“I think I’m closing in on 60,” marathon starts, he said this week. But, he adds, “I’ll probably run until I drop.”
The 54-year-old MacLennan has won the Blue Nose four times, has been first across the finish on 11 different occasions at the Johnny Miles Marathon in New Glasgow, and has, in total, won “26 or 27,” races in his career.
“But those are just numbers now,” he says.
“I’m going for a certain time and if that’s good enough to get you to the front, that’s great, but if not, I just go by what I can do, I can’t control what anyone else does on race day.”
The winter was very good for long-distance runners: the lack of snow made it easier for their training and MacLennan says he feels good going into the weekend.
Almost always, a marathon runner will take time off following a race, in order to let the body rest and recharge, but MacLennan is a huge supporter of the Joe Earle Memorial Road Races (and other such events in Pictou County), which always falls on Victoria Day, so on Monday, he’ll do the 5K run in Trenton, a relative sprint by comparison.
“I’m going to do the Joe Earle races. Usually, I take more time off after a marathon but this is the exception, and that’s cuz it’s the Joe Earle races.”
The long-range weather forecast for Sunday is predicting rain and a high temperature of around 17 Celsius, a little higher than MacLennan would prefer: he likes it around 12-15 degrees on race day.
“It’s going to be warmer than that (at the Blue Nose) but the main thing for me is the wind – I don’t like running into the wind. Everybody has to deal with it, it’s part of the running, but I just don’t like it.”
MacLennan, who coaches middle distance with the Pictou County Athletics program, uses music to keep his mind off the fact that he’s got to run 26 miles (and change) when he enters a marathon.
“Usually I’ll try to get a song in my head,” he says. “And sometimes if I’m on my own, I’ll start singing a little bit. Whatever works for you, especially when you get into bad points. Maybe you’ve got a little bit of stitch, or you’re tired, but you get out of it.”
