Marathon: Heim runs in New York
By Chris Walker (Contact)
Originally published 01:28 p.m., November 8, 2007
Updated 01:28 p.m., November 8, 2007
Last Sunday, 39,085 runners began a 26.2-mile run in the New York City marathon. One of those runners was John Heim, Emporia’s superintendent of schools. After five hours and 19 minutes of running, Heim crossed the finish line ahead of about 7,000 other runners to place 32,874th. Heim said his time was a little slower than he wanted because his hamstring tightened up during the race, but he was pleased that he finished.
“I don’t run fast, I just plod along,” Heim said. “If you do your training program and you stayed healthy, the run is really kind of fun.”
The race started on Staten Island then went through Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx before ending in Manhattan’s Central Park.
During the race, runners wore electronic transmitters on their shoes so people could track their progress during the race. North Lyon County Superintendent Steve Mollach was one person who kept track of Heim’s progress.
“It would send us e-mails as he would cross certain points in the race,” Mollach said, “but I accused him of putting his shoes on the back of a car.” Several celebrities ran in the race, including actress Katie Holmes and cyclist Lance Armstrong. Heim said he did not see any celebrities, he was proud that he beat Holmes’ time by 10 minutes.
Heim has run in several marathons but he said he doesn’t know if he will do another one.
“People say the week after the marathon you shouldn’t make any decisions on running another one,” Heim said, “but if my oldest son agreed to do one, I would do it with him.”