Lawrence runners set sights on Boston

Eight athletes from city to run in famed marathon

Leo Hansen calls an eight-mile run an “easy jog.”

It’s all a matter of perspective when you’re training for the Boston Marathon.

“Runners are definitely different,” he said. “We’re a different breed.”

If that’s the case, Hansen, a Kansas University senior, will feel at home Monday when he joins a field of 20,000 runners on the legendary 26.2-mile course in Boston.

He’s one of eight Lawrence residents registered to run in the marathon.

Hansen and his friend Tim Lang, also a Lawrence resident, qualified for the marathon in December at the White Rock Marathon in Dallas. Lang finished that course in 2 hours, 54 minutes, while Hansen finished in 2 hours, 58 minutes. The Boston Marathon’s qualifying time for the 18-34 men’s age group is 3 hours, 10 minutes.

White Rock is the second marathon Hansen and Lang have completed. Hansen’s first marathon attempt — in May 2002 in Rochester, Mass. — ended at mile 22, when he passed out from lack of water and was put on life support at an area hospital.

This time, the 23-year-old said, he’s prepared to go the distance. He averages 60 to 90 miles of running a week, snaking his way through Lawrence streets and the trails north of the Kansas River. He made an agreement with his father last summer that if he qualified for the Boston Marathon, his father would pay for the trip.

Leo Hansen, a Kansas University student, sometimes runs the trails in Martin Park, northwest of Lawrence. Hansen has qualified for and will run in the Boston Marathon on Monday, one of eight Lawrence runners in the field of 20,000.

“It should be every distance runner’s goal,” Hansen said. “It’s the No. 1 marathon in the world.”

Lang said he trained less than Hansen, but said he still felt confident going into Monday’s event. He also is battling inflammation in his knee, which has limited the amount he can run.

“I hope it doesn’t flame up in Boston and I have to drop out for pain,” he said.

But Lang said the experience — including meeting runners from around the world — would be worthwhile, no matter his finishing time.

“It’s going to be really fun,” he said. “It’s going to be awesome.”