Sophomore roommates run marathon together

A midnight run around Princeton's campus led four sophomore roommates to compete in the New Jersey Shore Marathon on April 25.

Roommates Tim Tran '06, Ian Macqueen '06, Paul Nelson '06 and Tyler Brown '06 crossed the finish line of their first marathon within a second of each other, with a time of 4:40:41. The four were about a half hour behind the median time for the 1,476 people who ran the flat, windless course.

Although they said speed was not a priority, the sophomores sprinted at the end of the race to avoid losing to other runners.

"We almost got burned by a power walker," Tran said. "We also almost got beat by this guy who would run to catch up with us, then stop and walk, then run to catch up with us, then stop and walk."

Tran and Macqueen came up with the idea to run a marathon near the end of November. At the time, none of the four ran regularly.

Once they decided to compete, the duo begin training seriously in December, running about 35 miles each week during reading period and finals.

But things started to slow down once the second semester began.

"We thought we would continue that and train seriously throughout the spring, but rugby and Bicker and a lot of other things got in the way, and we didn't retrain very much," Macqueen said.

They resumed their original exercise schedule a month before the marathon with Nelson, who will also live with them next year.

Brown started training two weeks before the event, which is held about 50 miles north of Princeton.

"Some of the people don't run at all and just jump in a marathon and run it just for fun. If they can do it, I can do it," Brown said.

Although their training was sporadic, the four students had clear objectives on race day.

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"Our goals were to stick together and finish the race, kind of leave no man behind," Macqueen said. "And no walking."

Race day went as expected. The roommates held a steady pace throughout the entire course, encouraging each other and moving as a group.

"We always ran together, we were never more than ten seconds apart," Nelson said. "If somebody was falling behind, we'd cheer them back up."

Five other Princeton students — Elizabeth Looke-Stewart '06, Eleanor Barkhorn '06, Ellinor Quay '06, Dawn Leaness '06 and Kelly Johnson '06 — also competed in the race, finishing within 20 minutes of each other around the 4-hour mark.

Though they have tentative plans to compete in a sprint triathlon next year, none of the four guys expects to run another marathon.

But they have advice for those thinking about completing the 26.2-mile event.

"If you commit yourself to doing it, you'll be able to for sure," Macqueen said. "If there's something you can learn from us, it's that anybody can do it."