Six-plus mile tempo runs are a staple for Syracuse to get ready to compete in the 10,000-meter race. And while all the distance runners spent weeks replicating them, Martin Hehir wasn’t able to.

Instead, he had to prepare and race in nationals for the end of the indoor track season.

But none of that mattered. By the time the race had finished, Hehir had shattered another school record — this time by 15 seconds.

“Everything was kind of clicking when I was in the race,” he said. “… I just decided to go for it.”

Hehir, a senior, led all collegiate runners in the event with a time of 28:27.70 and finished second overall, behind only three-time Olympian Juan Luis Barrios. But even after breaking another Syracuse record — one that had stood since 1982— Hehir isn’t ready to revel in his achievements.

Going into the Stanford Invitational, Hehir said he had two things in mind: he wanted to help pace his teammates in the event and get a qualifying time for regionals to keep in his back pocket for later in the year.

“Going to Stanford… the weather there is so nice so it’s really made for racing fast,” Hehir said. “So it’s hard to go there and not think about running real fast.”

Hehir started out pacing SU runners Dan Lennon and Reed Kamyszek, with the three of them taking turns pushing the tempo.

They rotated — one in front, the other in back. Lennon said they didn’t have much of a game plan, but Hehir benefitted from them staying in the pack to start.

“You get a little strength running with your teammates,” head coach Chris Fox said.

Hehir said he ran mainly in lane two, which meant wider turns that added up to a longer distance. He admitted it’s a bad habit, but Hehir likes the space to operate — it gives him room to make a move.

And at about the 8,000-meter mark, he began to break away from the pack.

“I think he’s matured, he’s able to handle big situations better,” Fox said. “He’s a man now, instead of a kid, and he’s prepared for big moments like that.”

Hehir holds the Syracuse record in the mile, the 3000-meter run and now the 10,000-meter run. He’s always leading the workouts and setting the bar for his teammates to follow.

About once a week, the distance runners travel to Sweet Road, a 6.5-mile, up-hill path run at about a 5:40 pace per mile. Fox said the drill is his team’s bread and butter — the place they go to build up their strength.

With a split time of about 4:42, Hehir holds that record, too.

“I don’t really like to think about my successes too much,” Hehir said, “because once you start doing that then you’ll start not caring about making more success and winning more races.”

Hehir is going back to Stanford on May 2 for the Payton Jordan Invitational where he is hoping to replicate his record-breaking performance.

This time, he’ll be running the 5,000-meter, where he hopes to improve his personal record that he said has been slacking the last couple of years.

“He seems very hungry right now,” said Lennon. “He’s always been a great runner but now it seems he really wants it more than he’s ever wanted it.”

Published on April 13, 2015 at 9:21 pm

Contact Matt: mralex01@syr.edu