Kenston Coach to Run Boston Marathon
Most people know Kevin Hinkle as the successful girls basketball coach at Kenston. However, there is another sport that is close to Hinkle’s heart.
Most people know Kevin Hinkle as the successful girls basketball coach at Kenston. However, there is another sport that is close to Hinkle’s heart.
Last year Hinkle, 37, and his wife Carrie, 34, qualified for the Boston Marathon for the first time. Carrie is also an assistant on the Kenston staff.
“When we first started to decide that we wanted to be runners, we never thought about qualifying for the Boston Marathon,” Hinkle said. “We just wanted to run. But then we saw we had a chance to qualify.”
Runners can’t just show up and run in the Boston Marathon, they have to qualify after running in a certified Boston Marathon qualifier taking into account the runner’s time, age and gender.
The Hinkles qualified for last year’s race after competing in the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Marathon, which has several hundred runners and sometimes as many as 1,000. Hinkle’s qualifying time was 3 hours, 32 seconds.
Hinkle said the Boston Marathon is like a whole new world compared to other races.
“You have to get there so early,” Hinkle said. “You have to be in the corral 30 to 45 minutes before you take off. And not knowing the course, there is a mental aspect.”
Hinkle added that the Boston Marathon starts out going down hill, which is rather unique for a marathon. Once runners start to reach the latter stages of the race is when they reach Heartbreak Hill. So, just when runners are starting to potentially hit their wall, that’s when the race gets even tougher.
“And it was so hot,” said Hinkle of the 2016 race. “It was 70 degrees and humid.”
Kevin Hinkle ended up running the race in 3 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds while Carrie ran the event in 3 hours, 48 minutes and 54 seconds.
“Grand Rapids is pretty flat and you run through parks,” Hinkle said. “Boston is totally different. The atmosphere, it’s packed with fans and people. It’s one of the loudest atmosphere’s I’ve ever been in. It’s an amazing feeling. We are part of an elite group.”
Hinkle has qualified for this spring’s Boston Marathon as well although Carrie will not be running as she has been dealing with a minor injury.
This past fall, Hinkle reached a milestone by running a sub-3 hour marathon. He finished the Grand Rapids race in 2 hours, 58 minutes.
Hinkle was asked if he had thought about his goals for his second Boston Marathon.
“To be honest, I haven’t really,” Hinkle said. “I’ve already qualified for 2018 and I have a sub 3 time. I want to try to improve on last year’s time. But I want to try to enjoy it more.”
The second time around should be less stressful for Hinkle.
“Just knowing what to expect and being more mentally prepared,” Hinkle said. “That will be huge.”
The Hinkles follow a five-day-a-week program as they run three days during the week then again on Saturday and even longer on Sunday. Hinkle says they usually get up between 4:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. to run before school as Kevin teaches at Kenston and Carried teaches at her alma mater, Newbury.
“They (the Kenston players) think we’re crazy and maybe we are,” Hinkle said. “But we show how hard work pays off. I always say we draw strength from how hard they work in practice and they can hopefully draw strength from us.”
Overall, the Hinkles have an 18-week program. The first nine weeks are building up. They start slowly as the runs get longer. Then, they stop and take a step back. The last two weeks of the program they taper down to let their bodies recover before the marathon.
Last year the Hinkles brought their parents along with them and made a nice trip out of the race especially since Carrie’s has an old college friend who lives in the Boston area.
And how long with the Hinkles keep on running?
“We’re going to keep doing it as long as we can,” Hinkle said.
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