Pumped to be a pace runner: David Hyopponen is ready for Grandma’s Marathon

David Hyopponen has run Grandma’s Marathon many times. But he wasn’t planning on it this year, now that he and his wife have two little ones.

But when someone asked him to be a pace runner, he reconsidered.

“My wife, she’s my biggest cheerleader. She said, when are you going to have a chance to do something like this for the community,” he said.

So it’s meant 10 weeks of pretty intense training. And in total, he’s run for 417 days straight anyways.

And on Saturday, he’ll be carrying the three hour flag. That means he’s going to run the marathon in three hours, and those who want to do the same should follow him closely.

“I’ve been practicing by running holding a shoe,” he told us. “I wanted to get used to my arm being in one position, and just trying to get that momentum going.”

He’s going to be clocking 6:49 miles, to finish in three hours.

Pace running could be one of the hardest volunteer opportunities in the race, according to Zach Schneider, Director of Marketing and Public Relations.

“It is an application process for our teams. They’re responsible for a lot of other people and how their race goes,” Schneider added.

Hyopponen said he’s pumped to help others reach their goals. “I’m just excited to see all the people trying to qualify for Boston. The people are trying to break 3 hours. Whatever their goals are, I’ll feed off that. They’ll give me energy and I hope I can give them energy as well.”

WDIO will be streaming coverage of the marathon on Saturday on air and online.