How a Jersey girl at Harvard caught the marathon bug running Boston Marathon, and hasn’t stopped since
- Hong Kong-based working mum Ming Chen runs marathons for fun, averaging more than two a year for the past 30 years
- She’s run 18 with her twin sister, and says running one with her daughter would be special. In training for her 65th marathon, she thinks she’ll stop at 88
Sixty-four completed marathons and counting. Meet serial marathoner Ming Chen, who has averaged more than two marathons a year for the past 30 years. Neither a competitive runner nor an elite athlete, Chen has a full-time corporate job, is married and a mother to three young children. Running helps her find peace in a busy, sometimes stressful life juggling work and family.
Chen started running in 1989 as a first-year student at Harvard, when two of her college girlfriends, who were planning to run the Boston Marathon, casually asked if she would like to join them.
“I had no idea what training for and running a marathon was like. I thought, What’s the big deal? and said yes,” Chen recalls. “We trained for six months, running along the Charles River while chatting. It was fun. For me it was a way to hang out with my friends,” says the 47-year-old, who grew up in New Jersey, played tennis in school, and hated track and field sports.
Chen says it was good that she was clueless about her first marathon, as the course was hilly and tough. “I was sore for a week after but recovered fast. Being 18 helped. I loved the experience and signed up for the New York marathon next and convinced my twin sister to run with me,” she says. Since then she has run 18 marathons with her identical twin, Wah Chen, with whom she has also co-authored two children’s books (Sassparilla’s New Shoes and Ling Ling Looked in the Mirror).
Chen says she loves the training process. It gives her life structure and focus. “The crowd support and the energy from the runners is amazing in a race. There is something wonderful about running with thousands of people, of varying ages, ethnicities and athletic abilities, all focused on finishing 26.2 miles (42.19km). Running is such an open and humbling sport,” says Chen, who lives in Hong Kong and is chief culture officer responsible for global marketing at EF Education First, a global education company that focuses on teaching languages, academics and educational travel.
Chen is not obsessed with her times and likes to run at a pace that she feels comfortable with. She could probably improve her race times with more intense training, but wants running to be fun and not feel like boot camp.