At one time, we all ran – around the playground or the yard – and then we stopped. If someone is thinking about running, pick a goal, find a running partner and just go for it. Sign up for a race. It really doesn’t matter if you’re first or last. If you’re out there doing it, I’m impressed.”

Joe Wilson

LINGLE – Patience is a virtue – especially in the midst of a grueling, 26.2-mile marathon run through the steep, rugged bluffs of western Nebraska as temperatures pushed into the 80s.

The capacity to endure tough conditions and unpredictability while maintaining a steady pace is key to conquering the mental game in marathons, Lingle runner Joe Wilson said.

“You’re running a slower pace for the marathon than you are for a 5K, so it’s really easy to get sucked out too fast, too early,” Wilson added. “Even at mile 10, you think, ‘Oh, I’m doing fine. I can pick it up.’ But the marathon is really two halves – the first 20 miles is one half and the last six is the other half. It’s about knowing the course and knowing when to push the pace and knowing when to reign it in.”

Wilson’s patient game plan paid off at the annual Monument Marathon around Scottsbluff on September 28. The veteran runner crossed the finish line in first place, more than 16 minutes ahead of the runner-up with a time of 2 hours, 46 minutes, 45 seconds – a new personal record for Wilson and one minute faster than his finish the previous year in better weather conditions.

Garnering gold in the men’s division on that hot Saturday morning brought out two other virtues for Wilson – thankfulness and humility.

“Honestly, I’m grateful and humbled that I can still get out and do a marathon,” Wilson said. “I don’t take it for granted and nothing is guaranteed in marathons. At the age I’m at – I’m not old, but I’m not young – to run a 2:46, I was very pleased with that.”

A demanding course

The Monument Marathon began in the Wildcat Hills above Scottsbluff and took runners south towards Gering. The course traveled east for several miles then turned north for two miles before “weaving its way” through the rocky outcrops around Scotts Bluff National Monument, Wilson said.

The first portion of the marathon was a back-and-forth race between Wilson and the other frontrunner, Hosea Kiptoo.

“I was running with a fellow for about 18 miles,” Wilson said. “We broke away (from the rest of the pack) right away and were running right at a six-minute pace for most of the way.”

Kiptoo made a move midway into the marathon.

“At about mile 13, he took the lead in a pretty bold move – kind of in a surge – and got about a 20-second gap on me,” Wilson said. “I kind of let him go and then reeled him back in at 18 (miles).”

The final portion of the marathon loomed – a particularly challenging section with plenty of elevation gain. Wilson has competed in approximately 30 marathons across the country, including the Boston and New York marathons, but the Monument Marathon is by far, the “hardest” course.

“The second half of that course is super tough,” Wilson said. “You naturally slow down because of the terrain. By then, the heat and the wind also play a role. It’s uphill when your body is least ready to run uphill.”

Wilson stuck to his game plan. His strategy centered on patience – balancing the difficulty of the course with his “baseline fitness,” or ability to stick to a particular pace throughout the course based on Wilson’s training regimen.

The goal is to “finish and collapse,” Wilson said, to prevent crossing the finish line with the nagging thought, “I should have run a lot harder in the middle of the course.”

Wilson battled to remain on pace for the final four miles of the course.

“I struggled the last few miles,” he said. “In a marathon, you’re going to have pain and fatigue and soreness creep in. I try to manage (the negative thoughts) and focus on keeping things moving forward. I figured if I was dead, others are probably hurting, too. I just tried to hang on and do the best I could do and on Saturday, it was good enough to win.”

A passion for distance

Wilson is a member of a small, but growing, group of people who can truly say they “enjoy” running.

“Running has kind of become my way of life,” Wilson said. “It’s therapy when I need it. I enjoy being active. My son (Sullivan Wilson) is a pretty accomplished runner. I run to connect with him. My wife and I run a lot together.”

On a sidenote, Wilson’s wife won two Monument Marathons.

Wilson picked up distance running in high school “because I really wasn’t that great at other things.”

At Southeast High School, Wilson began running competitively before the sport was popular.

“I had really great coaches,” Wilson noted. “People like Bruce Sinner, Mark Bullington, Glenn Freeburg – that really supported me doing something that at the time was kind of odd. I had some success with running and stuck with it.”

Wilson continued his athletic career in college and decided to keep running for a hobby as an adult.

Wilson’s training for the marathon covered five to six months of intense, “focused effort.”

“I didn’t run as many miles a week this summer, over this buildup, as I have in the past, but still probably did 70 to 80 miles a week,” Wilson said.

Preparing for the marathon is not simply logging miles but involves core strengthening work as well.

“The marathon beats up your whole body,” Wilson added. “I got some advice from a physical therapist friend and incorporated a lot of that (into training). It involves lots of cross training, strength training and supplemental training. That really helped this year to handle the body blows of the later miles in the marathon.”

Wilson encourages anyone to take up running as a “great” way to maintain mental and physical health and make friends.

“At one time, we all ran – around the playground or the yard – and then we stopped,” Wilson said. “If someone is thinking about running, pick a goal, find a running partner and just go for it. Sign up for a race. It really doesn’t matter if you’re first or last. If you’re out there doing it, I’m impressed.”

Wilson thanked the race organizers at the Monument Marathon.

“The race does a really good job of supporting the runners and putting on the marathon,” he said.

Wilson also expressed gratitude to family and friends for their support, including his parents, daughter and friends Brett and Kendra Dyer for cheering him on during the race on Saturday.

“My wife has been really supportive of my running over the years. My parents have been there through thick and thin and have traveled all over the country to watch me run. My also kids inspire me to run.”