In connection with New Balance, Men’s Health is exploring what it means to Run Your Way—whether you’re new to the sport, a long-time runner, or somewhere in between. Below, professional hockey legend Zdeno Chara chronicles how he became a marathoner and triathlete after two and a half decades on ice—and shares what this second wind has taught him.
The last time Zdeno Chara was a rookie was a quarter-century ago. Born and raised in Slovakia, Chara moved to North America as a 19-year-old in 1996 to play professional hockey. Thus began his 25-year career as a towering defensive presence beloved by fans everywhere—most notably in Boston, where he served as captain of the city’s venerated hockey franchise for 14 seasons, winning a championship along the way. For many athletes after such an illustrious career, retirement would be a moment to kick back and relax for the first time in a long time. But for Chara, hanging up the skates just meant it was time to lace up again—this time, though, the New Balance athlete opted for running shoes.
A Rookie Again
“I got to know some people who were marathon runners and ultramarathon runners,” Chara says, recounting how he first began considering the possibility of adding another sport (or three) to his athletic résumé. “I had always loved endurance sports. You don’t really run much during hockey season, but I was always warming up on a bike, cooling off on a bike. It was always in the back of my mind.” With the encouragement of his new running compatriots, he decided to sign up for a few short triathlons. “I began with sprint triathlons and gradually moved up to the standard distance.” Then, once he had a few completions under his belt, he set his sights on his first marathon.
“You can run anywhere,” Chara says. “Running through different towns, seeing friends, following the Charles River…”
Homecoming Marathon
While playing hockey in Boston all those years, Chara had always wanted to run the marathon there. “I wanted that to be where my first race was,” he says. “Knowing the town, knowing the streets. It was always so fun to watch during the hockey season when I was playing. I always wished to run a race there.” So when he felt he was ready for 26.2 miles, there was no question where it would be.
On race day, despite his decades of experience in high-pressure hockey games, he felt the same pre-run jitters that all first-time marathoners experience, he says: “I was super-nervous—you start thinking about everything that could go wrong.” Plus, his status as a hometown hero had ensured that there were many, many eyeballs on him—Chara was one of the most tracked athletes at the race, with thousands of spectators tuned into his progress online.
But once the race began, the communal environment of the marathon overtook his nerves. “The experience was crazy, in a good way,” he says. “It was like a parade.” By the time he crossed the finish line, it was official: Zdeno Chara had caught the running bug.
Another Race…And Another
“I was so excited to have finished that race that I immediately signed up for my next marathon, this time in New York.” he says. “Then I signed up for my first long-distance triathlon, in Germany.” Running these races—and training for them—was an entirely new experience for Chara, who was used to a physical training regimen that prioritized fast-paced bursts of energy. “In hockey, you go on the ice and put all of your effort into 30 to 50 seconds, change out, and then go back on. You can do this 20 times in a game,” he explains. “So it’s all about going 100 percent and then taking a breather. With endurance sports, you still want to practice some shorter-tempo rounds or sprints, so you have flexibility in case there’s a hill that you want to speed up on or something like that—but it’s much more about building up and maintaining a sustained level of energy.”
Mentally, too, his pivot to individual sports required entering a different headspace than he was used to from his pro career. “In a team sport, you don’t carry the whole load; you rely on your teammates and they rely on you,” he says. “But in a marathon, you are the one running 26.2 miles. You have to be responsible for yourself. You think, Okay, this is where I’m at. This is my pace, and I’m not going to make this move until this mile. You focus on your race, not on whoever’s running around you.” One thing remained the same, though: Chara’s pre-competition routine. “I like to get focused and visualize the race before the race,” he says. “Just as I did before hockey games.”
Looking Forward
As an athlete who accomplished just about all there is to accomplish on the ice, Chara has found starting from scratch with a new sport to be a rewarding experience. “There’s so much that I’ve learned about myself—trying new sports, meeting new people,” he says, adding that since he was first encouraged to start running competitively by his friends, he’s found that such initial encouragements are par for the course in the community. “Everything that people say about running communities is true. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful and welcoming. Runners push each other to be better. It’s a very normal thing to help a friend get ready for a race. I’ll run with them for four weeks, five weeks to get them ready.”
And now that he’s gotten his second wind as an athlete, Chara has no plans of slowing down. “I just want to keep setting these goals and going after them,” he says. “It’s now about having fun and doing my best. I really enjoy it.”
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