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Elite runner at age 15

Tony Nikodym may have dreams of being among the top four runners on the Andover High School cross country team. But last month, he finished third in the men's 18-and-under age category at Grandma's Marathon.

By PAUL LEVY, Star Tribune

Last update: July 8, 2009 - 9:58 AM

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Few runners would ever attempt a marathon in shoes they'd never worn before. But Tony Nikodym did last month at Grandma's Marathon. Chalk it up to inexperience. The kid's only 15.

"You should have seen the blisters," Tony said last week while running through a park near his home in Andover. He explained that he purchased new shoes at the Grandma's Marathon merchandise bazaar the day before the June 20 marathon and decided to break them in on the 26.2-mile run from Two Harbors to Duluth's Canal Park.

Asked if he had at least lubricated his feet with petroleum jelly before the marathon, Tony responded, "Well, no, I hadn't thought of doing that."

Yeah, and he loves junk food, too. Tony's dream diet would be ice cream, Snickers candy bars and more ice cream.

But can this kid ever run! Tony may have dreams of being among the top four runners on the Andover High School cross country team. But last month, he finished third in the men's 18-and-under age category at Grandma's Marathon.

In humidity and heat so oppressive that race organizers considered canceling the marathon before it began, Tony finished in three hours, 30 minutes and 52 seconds. In a starting field of nearly 8,000, he finished 424th overall.

And he was slightly disappointed.

Here's the scoop

"I wanted to run it in 3:10," he said. "And I was disappointed they didn't have the same kind of scoops of ice cream for the finishers at the end of the race, like they did last year."

Yes, last year. At 14, Tony was merely curious. He wanted to see if he could run 26 miles. He finished that race in three hours, 44 minutes -- 15th in his age division. And he got his ice cream.

"I said I'd never run another one," he recalled. For marathon runners, it's a familiar refrain -- one that comes with a very short memory.

This year, his feet blistered, his legs "burned" the final four miles and he considered dropping out at Mile 19.

"I didn't do it, probably because it would be faster to just finish the race instead of waiting for the bus to get me there," he said. "But at least at this one, I could feel my legs. Last year, my legs felt like they were on fire."

Why so far?

If you've ever run a race of any considerable distance, you probably consider a 15-year-old running a three-and-a-half hour marathon in dreadful conditions mind blowing. If you haven't run a marathon, you may ask the more sane question: What possesses a kid that age to run so far?

"It's kind of relaxing," said Tony, who enters 10th grade this fall and has visions of one day becoming a doctor or architect.

Maybe he was born to run. Tony says his father, Brad, used to run a lot and has completed marathons in three hours, 20 minutes. And at 5 feet 10 1/2 inches and 135 pounds, Tony has an ideal runner's build.

He's been working up to this. He says he was 11 when he ran his first distance race -- five kilometers -- and was 12 when he ran his first half-marathon, in Mora, in an hour and 40 minutes.

Tony thinks he's on to something. He said he's broken the five-minute barrier in the mile and run two miles in under 11 minutes. The longer the distance, the better he seems to do.

"At Grandma's, there were a few people I ran by who asked, 'How old are you?'"

Those who weren't flabbergasted or too tired to respond offered encouragement.

He's thrilled to be running any distance. He said his cross country coach, Scott Clark, worries that Tony could hurt himself. In fact, Tony said he damaged ligaments in his right ankle during track season and had to take several weeks off.

The ankle's fine, but Tony won't overdo it. He's cut back from the 45 miles per week he was running while training for Grandma's. He's considering running in a marathon in San Antonio in November -- that's after cross country season, Coach.

"I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon," Tony said. "To do that, I have to run a 3:10.

"But they won't take anyone under 18."

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419

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