Press Release - Honululu Marathon - 6/23/17

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

             Nick Symonds Announces His Final Professional Race 

The 2x Olympian will pursue his first marathon at the 2017 Honolulu 
Marathon in December. 

(Eugene, Oregon, June 23, 2017) After twenty years of competitive racing, 
two-time Olympian, Nick Symmonds, has decided to hang up his spikes. The 
33-year-old announced his retirement from the track yesterday at the 
2017 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships after failing to qualify for 
this year's World Championships. 

The Boise, Idaho native isn't completely done with competition however. 
This morning, on his YouTube channel, the former half-miler announced 
that he had one final race left in his legs and that his very last 
competition as a pro-runner would be the 2017 Honolulu Marathon. 

"To be honest, I'm not totally sure that I can do this. I guess that's the 
part that gets me most excited," says Symmonds. "The thought of running 
twice as far as I ever have before seems almost certainly impossible. But I 
have five months to prepare and if there is one thing competitive running 
has taught me it's that today's strong is tomorrow's weak. If I train 
correctly my body will adapt and I will be able to cross this final item 
off my running bucket list."

Symmonds is no stranger to hard training, during the peak of his 
pro-running career he routinely put in 70 mile weeks. He addressed 
training a bit in the mixed zone at the USA Track & Field Championships and 
announced that he will be chronicling all of his marathon preparation in a 
daily vlog posted to his YouTube channel. 

This year's Honolulu Marathon is scheduled to take place on the morning of 
December 10th. Nick certainly won't be alone on the streets of Honolulu as 
over 30,000 people have signed up to participate. Symmonds, who has always 
enjoyed interacting with his fans, has something big planned to add another 
name to the list of racers. 

His company, Run Gum, is offering an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii to 
run with him. Details on how to enter to win this once in a lifetime 
opportunity can be found at RunGum.com/runaloha. 

To learn more about how Nick plans to prepare for this year's Honolulu 
Marathon or to contact him please email  to set up an 
interview.
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