While Jimmie Johnson will compete in this weekend’s Cup race at Richmond Raceway, that’s not the only sporting event on his schedule in the next four days.
For the last few months the seven-time Cup champion has been preparing to run in the Boston Marathon, which is scheduled for Monday after the Richmond race.
Johnson told Runner’s World last week his goal is to complete the 26.2-mile marathon in less than three hours.
“It’s an aggressive goal,” Johnson said. “Just the way my mind works, I need something to go chase. My first full, and on such a challenging course... who knows what sorts of elements we’re going to be dealing with, but I know it’s a very aggressive goal to set.”
Johnson said his plan is to travel to Boston Saturday night after the completion of the Cup race, ideally giving him a full 24 hours to recover before Monday’s race.
“The race will finish late, travel to Boston that evening and hopefully sleep in and really just try to keep my feet up throughout the day and replace, replenish, hydrate, fuel up, stretch and really just kind of spend the day trying to stay loose and stretch and literally just try to keep my feet elevated and try to get all that bad blood out and filtered,” Johnson said. “I have some NormaTec Recovery boots that I’ll probably take with me and spend some time in those.”
But Mother Nature could deter those plans. Rain is in the forecast for parts of Saturday in Richmond. The race is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET. wunderground predicts a 20% chance of rain at race time, but there is a 60-70% chance for the five-hour window before that.
Rain is also in the forecast for the marathon, with a 100% chance when it starts at 9 a.m. ET.
Johnson noted the dilemma on Twitter.
According to the @weatherchannel, I might have a really challenging @bostonmarathon. If my @nascar race is bumped to Sunday and Monday’s forecast holds true... pic.twitter.com/b1a1Gcseww
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) April 10, 2019
In a weird way I’m welcoming it! https://t.co/eJLlEbdzqg
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) April 10, 2019
The marathon is scheduled to begin at 9:02 a.m. ET Monday with the final wave of runners set to start at 11:15 a.m. ET. Johnson is in a wave scheduled to begin at 10:25 a.m. ET.
NBCSN will broadcast the marathon starting at 8:30 a.m. ET
You can keep track of Johnson specifically through the B.A.A. Marathon app by tracking Johnson’s bib number, 4848.
If you’re interested in keeping up with me on Monday my bib number is 4848.
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) April 11, 2019
B.A.A. Marathon by Boston Athletic Association https://t.co/yM9xaAMLl5