Dan Jansen’s Next Race: NYC Marathon

After Lance Armstrong finished the 2006 New York City marathon, he said, "I've never felt this bad, ever" - and Armstrong was used to high-mileage endeavors. Imagine, then, what 26.2 miles might do to the legs of a speed skater who excelled in the sprints. Dan Jansen isn't scared, though. On November 1, the four-time Olympian will enter the 26.2-mile race to support "Run for Something Better" a program that promotes youth fitness.

No matter how he finishes in New York, Jansen (a veteran of two other marathons) will always be remembered for his perseverance on the ice. At the 1988 Calgary Games, he competed in the 500m event a few hours after learning that his older sister Jane had died of leukemia. He fell in that race and fell again in the 1000m. In 1992, Jansen held the world record at 500m, but hesitated on the soft outdoor ice in Albertville and placed fourth. In 1994, his fourth Games, he slipped in the 500m, and was not favored to earn a medal in the final race of his Olympic career, the 1000m. And yet, heading into the penultimate turn of the 1000m, Jansen was on world-record pace but nearly fell again. Somehow, he regained his stride and won his only Olympic medal, the gold, in 1:12.43, a world record. Afterwards, he skated around the darkened rink with his infant daughter Jane in his arms and created one of the most emotionally indelible images of the Winter Games. He retired at the end of that season.

On Friday, Jansen, 44, discussed the marathon and his other endeavors in a phone interview from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was checking out the US speed skating World Cup trials.

How are you managing to do your marathon training while you're away?

I'm in taper mode. I did a quick 12 miles before I got on a plane the other day. I got in 22 about a week ago, at home in Charlotte. But I don't think I have to do much over 10 anymore because it's only a week away. I know I can do it now. And this is my third [marathon].

Where were your other two marathons?

My first one was New York in 1996. The second one was March 2008 in Washington, DC.

What was your best time?

They've both been very close. New York was 3:23. Last year's was 3:20. For this one, I had a much shorter training time because I had some issues with my back. The SI [sacroiliac] joint on the lower right side was out of whack. It's not something new. It'll show up and slowly go away. Now it's not really an issue at all, but I would have liked a 16-week lead-up. This was more of an 8-week build. But I've got a pretty good base behind me from years of training and even from the last one I did. It didn't take long to build up to the miles I needed.

Do you have a time goal for New York?

I think I'll be around the 3½ hour mark, maybe give or take five minutes. But you never know when you hit the wall. The last one I did, I started too hard and hit the wall at about 20 and then, woof, it was a long last six. I don't like that feeling. I don't want that to happen again.

Have you been training with anyone?

No, just me. That's the way I've done every one in the past. I get out there - just me and my thoughts - and go. Sometimes it's harder when you run with somebody. If they're a little faster or a little slower, it changes the way you run.

In New York, you'll be running to raise money for "Run for Something Better" along with two-time Olympic hockey star Pat LaFontaine. Will you two try to stay together?

I don't think we'll run together because he has tendonitis in his knee. In fact, two or three weeks ago, he was just going to start up again, going 2 miles, that kind of thing. I don't expect he'll be able to run the pace that I will.

Did you run your other marathons for charity, too?

No, the first one was really just to do it. The second one, in 2008, a group of friends (about six of us and my older brother) just decided to run one. After we decided, I said, I'm going to make this a fundraiser for my foundation. I sent out emails and we raised about $10,000. Then it was interesting. It got real emotional during and after the race. I teared up a few times. It was totally unexpected. And once I finished I waited for the others, and when they crossed the finish line I was crying. 

What set you off? What were you thinking about?

My sister [Jane], I think. I think those marathons do something to ya. I really do.

Mess with your hormones, right?

Yeah. They really do.

In speed skating you were a sprinter, so do you view the marathon as one long, awful slog, or is it a welcome change of pace?

I really enjoy it up to a certain point. Up until about mile 15, it's kind of nice, but after that it becomes such a mental thing. I was always a pretty good runner but it's almost like you're expecting this wall to come. You think: 'Well, I feel good but do I want to keep at this pace, go a little harder, or back off a little so I have something left?' And you just never know.

Did you ever deal with that "wall" in speed skating?

It's different. Even up to 1000 or 1500 meters, it hurt bad, but it would be over in another minute or two so you just dealt with it. The difference here is that your body gives out in a different way. In skating, your technique starts changing when you get tired, and when you lose technique you lose speed. But in long-distance running, boy, all your senses start to go.

So how do you stay mentally afloat in a marathon?

New York is fun because there are so many people and there's music, so by the time you really start thinking about it, you're about 12 miles in - which is great!  When I train at home, I'm alone so I just sort of think about the weather and positive things. When I start to hurt really bad, I start thinking that I'm lucky I can even run, or I think about my sister and it kind of keeps me going. Three weeks ago, I wasn't sure I'd be able to do this at all. Now I'm healthy enough to do it, so you might as well hurt a little bit and push through.

You mentioned your sister. How many kids are in your family?

I'm the youngest of nine. Five girls, four boys. After we lost Jane, there's four girls and four boys including myself.

Are there other ways you keep Jane's memory alive besides thinking of her while you're running?

With the Dan Jansen Foundation, we do a number of things. The biggest one on that side of things - leukemia and related cancers - is a family aid fund. We try to help families that need assistance. Like when Jane was sick, she had her bone marrow transplant in Seattle and we were traveling out there for a year, back and forth. My parents also moved out there for a year. There are a lot of families like that and it gets expensive, so we help them with travel, room and board. We set up the foundation shortly after I retired. My last race was a few weeks after the 1994 Olympics.

Have you been to the Olympics since then, and in what capacity?

I've been commentating at all of them. In '98 I was in Nagano for CBS, and Vancouver will be my third one for NBC.

Speaking of Vancouver, which speed skaters do you think will do well for the US? Is there anyone you're excited about?

Shani [Davis] is obviously always up there and he'll be favored this year in the 1000 and even in the 1500. Trevor Marsicano came on so strong last year in the second half of the season; he shocked everybody. I'm really looking forward to a showdown between those two. I was thinking maybe 1-2 in one or both of those races.

I read that you have a couple daughters.

Jane is my oldest, named after my sister. She's 16 now, in her junior year in high school, and is a cheerleader. And Olivia, the youngest, will be 14 on November 10.  

Jane was the one you carried around the rink after you won the gold medal in 1994.  She has no recollection of that, does she?

No. Sometimes when she was growing up she thought she remembered it just because she had seen it [on tape], but there's no way she remembers the moment. It's tough sometimes on Olivia because she wasn't born yet and Jane got all the attention.

Are either of your daughters skaters - either figure or speed?

No, it's hard down there [in North Carolina]. Rinks are not very plentiful.

But the south has that whole inline culture: Joey Cheek, Jennifer Rodriguez!  Are your daughters even on inline skates?

No, they do their cheerleading, basketball, the other stuff.

In New York City, who will be in your entourage?

Just my wife Karen. She's is a golf professional, a teaching pro. It's hard for the girls to travel now that they're in school.

Is golf what brought you to North Carolina?  

I live there because of the girls. My ex was from that area, and she moved back there with them when we were divorced in 1997.

Where do you keep your Olympic gold medal?

It's hanging on a wall in my basement, in my rec room. I made one little corner of the wall for the Olympics. There are a couple torches. You know, Bonnie [Blair] and I carried the torch in Salt Lake. I've got the Atlanta torch, pictures of Bonnie and myself, a couple of newspaper headlines from when I won, and that's about it.

Besides running your foundation, the marathon, and Olympic commentary, do you have any other side gigs?

I own an orthopedics rehab business in Charlotte called Gold Medical. I distribute everything from bracing to slings to a passive motion machine people use to regain movement after joint surgery. I have an office in Charlotte, and a couple working for me in Georgia.

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To monitor Jansen's progress on race day, go to http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/Results.htm. All entrants will wear a timing chip on one shoe, and each time they run over an electronic timing mat, their individual times will be updated. Mats will be located at 3.1-mile intervals until the half-marathon mark, and every mile thereafter plus the finish.

Aimee Berg is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.

Tags: Dan Jansen, US Speedskating, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games