Paul Shimon and Kent Naugle have been battling for years over who will continue the Wichita Marathon running streak. Both men have completed every Wichita Marathon since it began 30years ago. They have run every course as it changed over the years.
However, after running the marathon last year, Naugle, age 70, said he would concede to Shimon stating that if he was going to concede, “There is no one better than Shimon to concede to.” Naugle now lives in Saddlebrooke Arizona and is not planning a trip back to Wichita for the marathon on Sunday.
Paul Shimon, 63, still lives in Wichita and is planning on making the new Prairie Fire Wichita marathon his 123rd marathon. He says “it’s as easy as 1-2-3” and then he takes that back and says, “Well, not really. It wasn't all that easy because every marathon you have to put in thought, long training runs and pressure from within yourself and exerted by others to finish.”
Shimon ran his first marathon when he was just a junior in High School. He was inspired by others running the Washington Birthday Marathon near where he lived and decided to run track and then enter the Marathon. Since then, he has posted a personal best of 2:30:12 at the Third Olympiad Memorial Marathon in 1975 just twelve seconds shy of qualifying for the Olympic trials.
Shimon has had great success with the Wichita marathon as well. Back in 1985, he ran a 2:39:04 which was good enough for 3rd place overall. This is when the course went thru Riverside, Back Bay and out past East High on Douglas and returned to the Century II building. Since portions of the new course run along this same course, Shimon may have some flashbacks.
However, this year, Shimon has had foot problems. Plantar Fasciitis has plagued his running for a year now and he was not able to get in a lot of high mileage weeks. This year, the goal is just to finish and keep the streak alive.
Shimon continues to run the Wichita marathon for several reasons.
It's close and I haven't had too many bad experiences. I know most of the people associated with helping, runners involved in the marathon and there were only two of us left and neither of us wants the infamy of being the one to stop.
When asked how long Shimon plans on running, he responded with a little sarcasm.
I plan to hang around the running scene for the next 40 years unless an alpha- Werewolf gets me. If a puny one comes I'm ready!
So don’t expect his running streak to end anytime soon…unless you know of any big werewolves around Wichita.
Comments
I love streaks - that's awesome
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