By Kate Hill

Every night after dinner Jason Hellendrung administers a shot of insulin into his stomach—the same stomach he is counting on to sustain him for the 26.2 miles of The Boston Marathon.

Hellendrung, a Davis Square resident who is living with Type 1 diabetes, will be running the marathon on April 19 as part of Team Bay State Games and Saucony 26 in an effort to raise money for charity. “I’ve been learning how critically important it is to some of the charities,” Hellendrung said about the value of running the marathon.

He said he supports the Bay State Games because the organization promotes personal development through sports and fitness, a way of life that has hit home since Hellendrung was diagnosed with diabetes three years ago.

At 6 feet 2 inches tall, Hellendrung said he knew he could stand to lose a few pounds, but when he dropped 40 pounds over 10 weeks, he knew something was wrong.

Hellendrung’s aunt, a nurse who specializes in Diabetes at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, suggested to Hellendrung that he could have been suffering from diabetes, he said.

After a routine physical, doctors confirmed his aunt’s suspicion, he said. “I got a call at five in the morning from the lab: ‘your blood sugar is through the roof.

We called over to Mount Auburn Hospital and you need to go right now,”
Hellendrung said he remembered that his blood sugar registered at 600 when the normal level is between 80 to 120.

His doctors advised him that he could avoid insulin shots if he could control his diabetes through diet and exercise. That was the moment when Hellendrung said he began to run.

He did not start the shots until recently.

He met with a nutritionist to change his eating habits and started running. “I played a lot of sports growing up,” Hellendrung said.

Running came naturally to the landscape architect, he said. “I just started running, and I guess after that first year or so I was doing three to four miles three days a week.”

Then about two years ago, Hellendrung toyed with the idea of running a half marathon, even beginning to train seriously. “I peaked at 11 miles and I thought: ‘this sucks,’” he said.

In 2004 a friend ran the Boston Marathon to raise money for Massachusetts General Hospital.

Hellendrung attended a fundraiser in support with some friends. “We had a few beers in us, as when most bad ideas come from,” he said.

“My friends suggested we run a marathon.” After some convincing he agreed to run the Chicago Marathon, which Hellendrung said he finished in three hours and 51 minutes.

This Patriot’s Day Hellendrung said he hopes to finish in 3 hours and 35 minutes with a 8:10 per mile pace. “My goal is to keep an even pace straight through. At 22 miles I’ll see how I feel and maybe pick it up a little.”
In preparation for the marathon Hellendrung took advice from the 56-year-old CEO of his company, who gave him the book “How to Run a Marathon in Four Hours,” he said.

He also joined Community Running, a club that trains at the indoor track at MIT, he said.

During the week Hellendrung aims for one good speed workout to practice turning his legs over quickly, a tempo run at a pace faster than what he would aim for during the marathon and every Saturday a long run on the Minute Man Trail to Concord to get his body used to running for an extended period of time, he said.

“My goal was to do my first marathon in under four hours,” Hellendrung said.

“I wasn’t sure if there’d be another one after that,” he said Hellendrung.
In addition to the physical and mental challenges of running one of the world’s most difficult races, Hellendrung said he realized he could raise a significant amount of money for charity by running the Boston Marathon.

His initial fund raising goal was $3500 and so far, Hellendrung is up to over $4500. He has raised most of his money through the Web site justgiving.com.

The site hosts web pages for charities trying to run money. You can find his page at www.justgiving.com/pfp/jayhell.

The Saucony 26 program assembles 26 runners who have inspiring stories to share. For each mile, runners receive ten dollars. Hellendrung will also be donating that money to charity, he said.

While running the marathon, Hellendrung will be careful to stay hydrated and get food into his body to help control his blood sugar. “I’ve got to be a little more conscientious,” Hellendrung said.

The Boston course will be dotted with Hellendrung’s fans on Monday, cheering for the East Providence native in his gold Saucony running shirt.

At mile 23 Hellendrung’s legs might be tired, but he said he will keep going because he knows the good it will do. “I’ve done it before and with only three miles left, just don’t stop.”