Metzl tours 26.2 miles of NY

Not many Penn students have run a marathon. Fewer Penn students have spent a summer working in a Vietnamese hospital. College sophomore Josh Metzl is the only student who did one while training for the other. On Sunday, while most Penn students recovered from weekend events such as Halloween and Homecoming, Metzl ran the New York Marathon. The marathon spans 26.2 miles through the neighborhoods of New York City, "and the point two [miles] really counts," according to Metzl, who was still suffering from sore legs during an interview Tuesday. Metzl finished 1,394 out of over 31,000 runners, and qualified to run the Boston Marathon with an unofficial time of three hours and nine minutes. The qualifying time for runners aged 18 to 35 is 3:10. Although far from his home training grounds, Metzl still managed to get in some conditioning for the marathon this summer. The Sigma Alpha Mu brother spent ten weeks in Southeast Asia working in a Vietnamese hospital, traveling and of course, running. Metzl ran long distances frequently during his travels to keep up his stamina. He recalled, with a grin, some interesting events that spurred his training efforts while in northern Vietnam. While running through a small Vietnamese town just over the Chinese border, he crossed paths with a pack of "rabid, barking, going-ape-shit dogs," who chased him through the village both coming and going. He laughingly credited the dogs with improving his speed. In order to beat the tropical heat typical in the region, Metzl had to wake up many days before 5:30 a.m. He reminisced about running through the rain forest in the morning, with the mist rising all around him, saying it was one of his favorite memories from the summer. When Metzl arrived home in mid-August, he started training earnestly for the big New York run. This training included weight training and swimming, as well as running. Apparently, the hard work paid off. Metzl finished an impressive third of all entrants from Missouri, his home state, and 331st for the 20-to-24 age bracket in the marathon. Two of Metzl's fellow SAM fraternity brothers, sophomore Elie Kobrin and sophomore Dave Peretz traveled to New York to cheer him on. "One of the best feelings is seeing one of your best friends totally kicking ass in the New York Marathon," Peretz said, adding that he and Kobrin were, "so pumped to see him just about to finish," from their vantage point in Central Park at the 25th mile marker. Metzl plans to run the Boston Marathon on the third Monday in April. As for now, he said he's still feeling the effects of his New York success, saying with a grimace, "going downstairs, I really can't make it without holding onto the railing."