Mark Plaatjes

What he’s known for:
Plaatjes won the 1993 IAAF World Championships Marathon in Stuttgart, Germany, the last man to win a major distance championship in an American uniform. Born in South Africa under apartheid, Plaatjes sought political asylum in the U.S. in 1988, and brought with him a 2:08:58 PR from 1985. He qualified for the U.S. World Championships team in Boston in 1993, placing sixth here in 2:12:39, before running down Lucketz Swartbooi of Namibia in the closing miles of the Stuttgart race to take gold in 2:13:57.

What we didn’t know:
Since his last run in Boston, in the late ’90s, Plaatjes has turned his attention to his adopted hometown, Boulder, Colorado. His running store there is now three running stores, and he has a successful physical therapy practice with his wife, Shirley.

Plaatjes has also been coaching runners, including French Olympian Nadia Prasad (now a U.S. citizen,) 2001 U.S. champion Scott Larson, and Leadville 100-mile course record holder Chad Ricklefs. Two years ago, Darren de Reuck (whose wife, Colleen, ran the Olympic marathon for South Africa in 2000 and the USA in 2004,) asked Plaatjes to help with his club, the Boulder Striders. “They’re a lot of fun,” says Plaatjes. “It’s a lot of people who aren’t used to organized workouts. We help them pick a goal race, and we build a program to get them ready for that race. We have ten runners going to Boston this year.”

Another of those runners, Eileen Herbst, 39, came to Plaatjes after her first qualifying attempt fell short at 3:54. “Eileen had trained very hard, and was disappointed,” says Plaatjes. After training with Plaatjes through the summer, Herbst ran 3:13 at the Twin Cities Marathon last October. “I thought she was ready for a 3:10,” Plaatjes explains, “but it was a big mental jump for her. We started off at 3:20 pace, which I knew would be easy for her, and picked up the pace every five miles. She finished with a lot of energy left.”

Plaatjes will be running with Herbst and her husband, Mark, in Boston this year. “We’ve been up to 21 miles on Old Stage, and we’ll do 23 four weeks before the marathon,” says Plaatjes. Old Stage is a course laid out near Boulder by former Boston champion Rob De Castella with an eye to simulating the Boston course as closely as possible.

“If I didn’t know her, I wouldn’t tell her to expect a PR in Boston,” says Plaatjes of Herbst. “But she’s in much better shape than she was at Twin Cities. She’s an easy athlete to coach; she doesn’t miss any sessions.”

Herbst is far from the only Striders athlete Plaatjes has great expectations for. Among others, he cites Tom Lemire, 65, as a contender to win his age group.

What he’s been up to:
“I have plenty of time,” says Plaatjes. “I have a good partner at the running store, and good employees. My work is fun, it’s not stressful to me. It’s easy when you enjoy what you do. I ask people who come for physical therapy about what they do, and you can tell from the first word if they like what they do. Some people aren’t happy, but they’re scared to move. I love talking to people who enjoy their work.”