When Peter Lederer finished the 2024 Boston Marathon on a leg and a prayer, it was safe to surmise the worst was behind him.
But not so fast there, race afficionados.
What happened in late April – Lederer completing the 26.2-mile test with a stress fracture in his hip – was just the beginning of an injury-related journey much longer and more challenging than the trek through Beantown.
The Langhorne resident, who wanted to keep his streak of 21 Bostons alive, needed a crutch to traverse the hilly course. When a teary-eyed Lederer crossed the finish line, at more than twice the normal time (three hours) it takes him to run a marathon, he figured he would have ample time to recover and take on an autumn marathon.
That was his thought as he toed the starting line in the Berlin Marathon five months later.
Everything went along fine on the flat, fast course in Germany until about mile 23.
That’s when his other hip started to bother him. In a big way. The pain literally ground him to a screeching halt. He had to walk the final three miles.
Turns out he had a complete fracture of his pelvis on the other side this time and it was a rather “changes-have-to-be-made” moment.
“The pain was unbearable,” he recalled in a recent telephone conversation. “I limped my way through, so that was a nightmare.
“I kind of had to start over and really question what I was doing, training-wise. That took me until mid-January to walk-run.”
Lederer, 58, tried going to the gym to stay in shape but that can only take a serious runner just so far.
By February he was starting to feel like himself again.
“I’ve changed my training,” he said. “My miles are 60 percent of what they used to be. There’s a lot of cross-training now. I am healthy.”
Lederer needs to run 3:30 on April 21 to qualify for Boston No. 23 in 2026. He has his eye set on completing 25 straight Bostons, an accomplishment earned by less than 100 runners worldwide.
“I’m just grateful to be able to run and be healthy,” he said. “I need to run 3:30 and normally that wouldn’t be a problem and maybe it won’t be. I don’t know, I’m sort of in uncharted territory here.”
Lederer has strong ties to the Bucks County running community and after he completed Boston last year (in just over six hours), the response was pretty amazing. He received congratulations from all over the place.
“It was remarkable,” he said. “When I used to run good times, people were very happy for me. But nothing resonated more than that race last year. My slowest time was the one that people really reacted to.
“People told me they were inspired. Other people said they got emotional reading the article. I got so much positive feedback, it was amazing. Something crazy like that, like I said, resonated with people.”
Pete and his wife, Linda, had a few conversations before Boston last year to go over the positives and negatives of such a venture.
“I was certainly fearful of what might happen when I was doing it,” he said. “I knew I was taking a risk. If it became a full fracture, then it’s surgery and really the end. Surgical pins and all that.
“We were really concerned. Linda wasn’t trying to discourage me. It was more, let’s have a discussion and try to figure out if it’s a good idea. I eventually came to the idea if it got bad, I would walk off the course. I would not try to push through if things were going haywire.”
Well, the pain got bad but Lederer was not about to become a DNF (did not finish).
Lederer, a Harry S Truman High School and West Chester University graduate, admits the same scenario came about in the final few miles of Berlin. Again, fortitude won the battle over common sense.
“I was in tears, I couldn’t believe this was happening again,” he said. “It was an ordeal. It took me a long time to walk those three miles because it wasn’t even normal walking. It took me three hours to get out of the finish area because I couldn’t put any weight on my leg.”
Hopefully, all the preparation and training will lead to a safer, happier trip in Boston this year.
After Berlin, Lederer changed his workout routines, doing weights, stretching, etc. He had blood tests done.
“I found I was low in vitamin D,” he said. “Calcium, too. Vitamin D helps you store calcium. I had a bone density scan done. Ran through the gamut of tests to try to figure out what was going wrong and why it was happening.”
Having gone through this for the better part of a year, what has Lederer learned about himself?
“When you’re younger you feel invincible, like you’re never going to get injured,” he said. “These (injuries) were a pretty big deal. This was the first time I sort of saw my running mortality staring me in the face.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it anymore. That’s why I’m more grateful to do whatever I can do now. If I can just can continue to run, it will be enough.”
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Saturday
Be Kind 5K, 9:30 a.m., Buckingham. Contact www.Bucks5kseries.com
