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‘I still feel ready to go’: Danica Patrick joins the 125th Boston Marathon
"It's my only bucket list item so here we go. I can die after October 11."
Danica Patrick, the decorated former race-car driver, is one of 20,000 people who will be running the 125th Boston Marathon. Patrick, who is the only woman to win an IndyCar Series race, is pushing her athletic limits further by running Boston as a way of challenging herself both “mentally and physically.”
As she makes her way through the 26.2-mile race, she’ll be joined by her sister Brooke Selman and friend Erin Buntin on Team Speed of Light. She and other runners on the team are running to raise money for the Light Foundation, which was founded by former New England Patriots player Matt Light and his wife Susie to empower young people to lead active lives.
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When given the opportunity to run the iconic race, Patrick said she didn’t have to think twice about taking it on.
“It was like, ‘Oh, Boston? Yeah, we’re doing this,’” Patrick told Boston.com.
Boston.com spoke with Patrick about her training schedule, how she plans to conquer Heartbreak Hill, and why she’s running Boston.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
When did you decide you wanted to run a marathon?
I have always wanted to run a marathon. From being a kid when I was still living with my parents, running with my mom in the mornings and that being really my only form of a workout. Fast forward many years later, it’s one of those things where I thought to myself for so long, “I just want to run a marathon someday. Before I die, I want to run a marathon.” It’s a really big physical and mental challenge, and I like challenges. It’s my only bucket list item, so here we go. I can die after October 11.
What did training look like for you in the months and weeks leading up to the marathon?
I can’t say that I have trained as much as I should have, but I think that I’ve definitely trained enough. I’m not going to say the race day will be perfect. Some of the best athletes in the world can have a rough day on race day. The training is just like building on your running and building week to week. I [trained] June, July, August, September, so four months. After the first month or so, every other week is a long run, and in-between weeks, some medium-length runs. That’s where I faltered a little because I was at altitude in Telluride, Colo. and then I was in the heat of Scottsdale, Ariz. so my training environment has been less than ideal. I definitely didn’t cover as many miles as the other girls running along with me did but regardless, I still feel ready to go.
Are there any parts of the course that you’re excited about running or any that you’re worried about getting through?
I’m renaming Heartbreak Hill to Home Free Hill. The mental space that you can enter into once you get past that will be interesting because you’ll have just finished the most difficult portion of [the] course but you know you’re about to go to a generally downhill race from there on out to the end. I think [it] will be an interesting mental position of being exhausted yet knowing that you are on the home stretch.
What does running for Team Speed of Light mean to you?
Matt [Light] was a professional athlete, played football, and the idea of the charity getting kids outside and teaching them about responsibility, accountability, and leadership…is just a real easy yes for me. That’s something that I love supporting. Any opportunity that I get before the race to remind people that they can go donate to the Light Foundation, I do that. They’re helping kids get outside and get active and I love that.
Do you have any go-to songs that you plan to listen to while you’re running?
I listen to podcasts, especially with my long runs. You know it’s a long run when you can get through a Joe Rogan podcast. But I don’t think we’ll listen to anything [during the marathon]. It’ll be the three of us running together and then there’ll be so much crowd interaction and people cheering your name. I think we want to be really present and we want to absorb it. It’s not about tuning those things out, it’s about tuning into them and out of how bad your body hurts.
How do you plan to unwind after the race?
I think that there’ll be a comedown. I noticed after really long runs like my stomach gets a little bit weird afterward probably from consuming stuff to keep you going that you wouldn’t normally eat whether it’s really high sodium drinks so that you can have the electrolytes and the sodium so you don’t dehydrate. I think after the race our stomachs will probably be a little weird. I think our bodies will get a little fatigued. I think we’ll probably get in, go lay in the hotel room and sit in TheraBody boots to get some inflammation out of the legs. I doubt that drinking alcohol that night will be good for our bodies, but I bet we will.
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