December 4, 2008
Run, Nic, run! Staffer raising money with 13 marathons in 12 weeks
Last Friday, when most of us were fattening up on turkey leftovers or shopping, UW staffer Nic Plemel ran more than 27 miles through the forest near Gig Harbor.
Then the next day he ran in another marathon-like event, this one a 50K around Seattle’s Seward Park. The day after that he ran the Seattle Marathon. And while most of us will be preparing to ring in a new year on Dec. 31, Plemel will be — you guessed it — running another marathon.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Plemel said. “A little part of me asks what it would take for me to quit at one of the races. I haven’t come up with a good answer yet — I suppose it’s a good thing.”
In fact Plemel, 27, a purchasing agent for the Applied Physics Laboratory, plans to run more than the equivalent of 13 marathons — a whopping 388 miles total — in 12 weeks.
Why, you ask? He has an excellent reason — he’s doing it to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He keeps a blog about the plan and even a PayPal account allowing others to donate per mile or however they wish. You can learn more, and donate, at http://13in12.blogspot.com.
Plemel said he isn’t a vastly experienced marathon runner — he ran his first 26.2-mile event only last November, though he has run shorter races for a few years. And he ran a lot during his four years in the U.S. Army — “no choice but to run there,” he said with a laugh.
He also participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Big Climb, at Columbia Tower, for the last three years even though, he said, he had never known anyone with leukemia.
That changed in July. “A buddy of mine went to the doctor with an ear infection and came back with — not full-blown leukemia but a blood disease that has progressed since,” Plemel said. “Things are looking good for him, but it’s still early on.”
There’s a lesser reason, too. Plemel belongs to the running group Marathon Maniacs, and these races will bring him up to the Palladium Level, the third-highest level the group recognizes. To achieve the level, a runner must run 38 to 44 marathons in a single calendar year, 20 of them in different states or Canadian provinces, and must run, as Plemel is doing, 13 marathons in 12 weeks. The highest level is Titanium, requiring all of 52 marathons across 20 countries in a single year.
So Plemel is running — and running and running! — in marathons with names both straight and silly — to raise money to fight blood diseases.
He started with the post-Thanksgiving Wishbone Run on Friday, Nov. 28, followed by the Ghost of Seattle Marathon and the Seattle Marathon the following days. His time of 4:57:30 in the Saturday event was a personal best, and he finished the Seattle Marathon in just under 4:02:43, “which if nothing else was better than I expected after having run the previous two days!”
Other events will include the Tiger Dumb Ass on Tiger Mountain in Issaquah, the Pigtails Run and Pigtails Flat Ass run, both in Renton, and the Last Chance Marathon in Bellingham. He’ll wind down with the Yours Truly Cedar River 50K on Jan. 25, and finish with the Lord Hill Trail Run in Snohomish on Feb. 1.
Some are harder than others, but Plemel said he’s done well so far. “I have yet to walk in a marathon,” he said, “though I don’t begrudge anyone who does.”
So serious is he about his fundraising, Plemel wrote in his blog, that he’s willing to be silly to get donations flowing. “I’ll do ridiculous things (terms to be discussed via e-mail). Want me to wear a funny hat? Go shirtless in January? Something else even wackier? E-mail me at nicplemel@yahoo.com and we’ll work something out.”
And as for the benefits of running, he’s got a good line all ready: “A knee replacement is cheaper than a heart replacement.” Funny, but also true.
