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People On The Move - Dr. Paul Lenz
06/27/2011 - By Chad A. Safran
RUNNING AROUND THE WORLD
When Dr. Paul Lenz volunteered to run with a friend of his daughter’s during one of her training sessions in 2004, he had never run in his life. That eight mile journey was an enjoyable experience, and Paul decided he needed to find a running event to match his goal-oriented, type-A personality. He chose the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., which was going to be held six months later. Why that race? It would be a way to celebrate his birthday. But no ordinary birthday; Paul ran his first 26.2 mile race two weeks after turning 70!
He finished the race in a bit over five hours, and that would be just the start of his marathon adventures. Not satisfied with his time, Paul was determined to improve his results in order to qualify for the most prestigious marathon in the United States - the Boston Marathon. He
ran the Marine Corps Marathon again in 2005, turning in a time of 4:25:12, an improvement of over 40 minutes from the year before and earning this retired physician/physician manager a spot in the 2006 Boston Marathon. He finished Boston in 4:20:01.
In the next few years, Paul added more marathons to his resume, including races in Chicago, Vermont, and Massachusetts. But this self-admitted adventure seeker – who has flown planes, trekked in Patagonia, tagged crocodiles in Africa, and camped in the mountains of India – looked for more. Ultimately, Paul settled on a goal: to run a marathon on every continent.
With North America already out of the way, he was able to cross off Asia when he finished the Tiberias Marathon in Israel, where Paul grew up as a teenager and attended both college and medical school. (He was born in the former Czechoslovakia, and has lived in Colts Neck since 1975.) Last fall, he took part in the Athens Classic Marathon, which commemorated the 2500th anniversary of the legend of Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens to announce Athenian victory and subsequently died, thus creating the marathon.
“It was a wonderful experience, to run the original course and finish in the original Panathinaiko Olympic Stadium,” says Paul, who completed the race in 4:31:57 - good for third out of 21 in his age group. “The last two, three miles, you see the Acropolis.” That leaves four continents for the 76 year old father of three and grandfather of two. So what’s next? In 2012, he is considering a race in Rio de Janeiro, or one in Kenya, which takes place in an African game park amidst wild animals on the open plain. For the Australian part of his adventure, he would prefer to find a marathon in New Zealand. He hopes to cap off his quest, and celebrate turning 80, with the Antarctic Marathon, which is run on King George Island, located off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. “The only problem with that one is that it screws up your skiing season, but you do have penguins watching you and there’s not much traffic,” he explains.
Meanwhile, he keeps in shape on the roads and pathways of Monmouth County. He enjoys running on the Henry Hudson Trail and for his easier outings will take a five-mile jaunt around the Manasquan Reservoir. He also takes part in an occasional road race in the area; he completed two half marathons earlier this year, winning his age group both times.
Running has helped Paul to feel healthier now than he did 10 years ago. It allows him to get the competitive juices flowing and “to beat 1000s of 20 year olds.” But most of all it has enabled him to find time to relax and set his mind at ease. “I find that if I have issues or problems I want to think out, it’s an ideal time. There’s no interruptions, there’s no phone. You can run and resolve a lot of things that you don’t have time to think about in your normal life.”
STATS
FAVORITE RESTAURANT
I prefer to eat at home
FAVORITE MUSIC
Classical
PET PEEVE
Conspicuous Consumption
THREE PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH
Rembrandt, DaVinci, and Barack Obama
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