Two-Time Austin Marathon Champ Whelan Sets PR at Boston

<image above> Joe Whelan sped to a 2:12:16 PR at Boston. Photo credit: Joe Whelan, Marathonfoto. <image above>

The Austin Marathon figures prominently in marathoner Joe Whelan’s marathon journey. He’s run 28 marathons so far and won Austin twice — in 2018 and 2019. He set his (then) personal best of 2:13:39 at the 2019 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, four months after his last win in Austin.

He was hoping for another win in this year’s Austin Marathon but finished a disappointing sixth in 2:22:53. He did, however, learn a valuable lesson that led to a new PR at Boston this past week. More on that in a minute.

Whelan, who moved to Webster, New York near the shores of Lake Ontario from San Antonio several years ago, deals with sub-freezing training conditions during the winter. But he grinds out the miles.

“I had a decent February and March build up for Austin,” said Whelan. “The main purpose was to run a hilly marathon ahead of Boston. Also, it would keep me motivated to train during the winter. Austin is the reason I ran well at Boston.

“I thought I had a good game plan at Austin,” said Whelan, 34. “The second half in Austin is mainly downhill. So I let the pack get away, thinking they’d come back. And they never came back. The lesson I learned is that if you want to place well, you just have to commit. So going forward, I promised myself I’d commit. I learned a lot there. It was a mentality shift,” he explained.

“I trained very specifically for Boston,” he said. “I did a lot of downhill runs. A week after running Austin my wife and I went on our honeymoon to Australia. I did a long run in Sydney — 21 miles. I did a two mile pick-up at 4:50 pace. So Austin played a crucial role.”

In Monday’s 129th Boston Marathon, Whelan put the lessons he learned in Austin to work.

“At Boston, I was in the pro field. The field was stacked. Usually there are packs of runners you can go with. But being a 2:13 guy, I found myself in no man’s land. So I just kept telling myself — ‘Find a pack. Just stick with them and you’ll do fine.’”

That’s exactly what Whelan did. The first four miles of Boston were downhill and a pack of six 2:10 guys was speeding along.

“I made a decision to stick with them,” said Whelan. To commit. We went through the half in 64:54. I’ve only broken 65 minutes once on the half marathon. But I kept thinking, ‘stay with them.’ I’d read four-time Boston champ Bill Rodgers’ book the night before. He said you don’t need to run the Newton hills hard. But make up the ground on the downhills. So I’d fall back a little going up and catch the pack going down. Going up Heartbreak hill at 21 miles, I ran with a former teammate. At the top of the hill I was able to focus on my breathing, and mile 22 was a pretty good downhill.”

At that point, Whelan knew he had to just hold it together. So he stopped checking his watch.

“Your watch doesn’t matter. What matters is passing people. I never slowed beyond 5:15 pace, it just felt slower,” he said.

Whelan crossed the finish line at Boston in 2:12:16, a PR by more than a minute and more than 10 minutes faster than his 2025 Austin effort.

“I feel really good,” he said. “It feels great to set a PR at age 34. All that work just paid off. It makes everything worthwhile. Ninety percent of the time marathons may not work out. But that 10% — that’s why you do it. In fact, I’m taking another swing at the Tartan Ottawa International Marathon on Memorial Day. It’s a legal, flat course.”

Upcoming Races: Saturday, May 3, the Capitol Challenge 5K at 8:00 a.m. at Camp Mabry. Saturday, May 3, the Cinco De Mayo 5K/10K Run at 7:30 a.m. in downtown Lockhart. Sunday, May 4, the H-E-B Austin Sunshine Run 5K/10K at 8:00 a.m. at Auditorium Shores, Austin.