Globe North Sports

A step ahead

of the pack

Brighton runner

grabs online following

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / August 20, 2009

In the running world and a bit beyond, Nate Jenkins is recognizable for his scruffy orange beard. Clean-shaven this summer, though, he passed as just another miler pounding the streets around his Brighton home, training for Saturday’s marathon at the World Track & Field Championships in Berlin.

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“Sometimes I get honks from a woman who tells me she likes my short shorts,’’ said the 28-year-old Jenkins.

“That’s about it. You hear stories about Bill Rogers training in Boston in the ’70s and ’80s and a city worker’s head would pop out of a manhole and he’d say ‘Hey Boston Billy!’ I think it’s been a long time since US marathoning was on the forefront.’’

One of the greatest distance runners ever at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Jenkins might not stop traffic in Boston, but he has created a cult following in cyberspace.

After he delivered a shocking seventh-place finish at the 2007 US Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City with a World qualifying time of 2:14.56, Running Times Magazine posted his training blog (http://runningtimes.com/blogs/?cat=32) on its website. The graduate of Narragansett Regional High School in Templeton recaps his workouts on a weekly basis and receives 20 to 30 comments and questions per post, all of which he answers.

“No other top runners really talk in detail about their training on a regular basis,’’ he said. “They’ll give you a sample week or a great workout they did, but I lay out exactly what I did and why.’’

“I think that my crazy training sessions are also part of it; people love to see someone who is willing to go a little berserk to get what they want. Lastly, I’m more of an average guy. I didn’t win state titles or set records [in high school], I didn’t go to a D1 [school], I wasn’t an all-American, I don’t have the famous coach or the entourage. It’s old school, it’s blue-collar, it’s an underdog story and people love that.’’

He is also the only runner on the US five-man marathon team who doesn’t train fulltime with a coach. Currently living near the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, he plans and executes his own workouts before sharing his trials and triumphs.

He consults with Gary Gardner, his former coach and colleague at UMass-Lowell, at least twice per week, making sure he doesn’t overextend himself.

“He’s the only national/world class athlete I know who does 99 percent on his own [coaching]. I’ll take credit for 1 percent.’’

Jenkins has coached runners at the Greater Lowell Running Club. He worked as an assistant under Gardner at UMass-Lowell. And he has trained marathoners for the run from Hopkinton to Boston. But he has never run on Patriots Day.

“I want in next year. I’m pumped,’’ said Jenkins, whose sights are also set on the Olympics.

Depending on his finish in either of those marquee events, Jenkins might just draw a utility worker out of the manhole just like Boston Billy one day.

“If I go out and win I will not be noticed in the US,’’ Jenkins said of Saturday’s race. “I will get noticed in my sport and it will change my career. But I won’t be noticed in the US. The top five Boston finishers resonate for people in the non-running community, even though it’s not as competitive’’ as the World Championships.

“In order get noticed I will have to have my big day running down Comm. Ave.’’

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.