Taking on marathon for a cause

Mepham High School teacher Chris Patten will compete in the world’s oldest annual marathon –– the Boston Marathon –– on April 18. The 36-year-old Boston native will take part along with tens of thousands of other runners, while also raising money for the Red Sox Foundation, the charitable arm of the Boston Red Sox, which funds a variety of philanthropic causes.

“Since this is my first marathon, my biggest goal is just to finish,” said Patten, of Massapequa Park. “The Red Sox Foundation has been amazing, running the event as a team, so I get emails with training tips and reminders. I’m just slowly starting to build my miles up and hitting the gym.”

Boston Marathon participants must qualify for the race, which is considered among the most competitive in the world. The qualifying time for a 36-year-old man is 3 hours, 10 minutes over a 26.2-mile course. Because Patten has never run a marathon before, only obstacle courses, he is entering the race as a charity participant, and must raise at least $5,500 in pledges for the Red Sox Foundation in order to run the race. He’s nearly halfway there.

And he’s training hard in preparation for what many consider a brutally hilly course. “I’m running close to four days a week, and trying to throw some weights in there, with one long run over the course of the weekend,” he said. “I couldn’t do this without the support of my friends, my family, my kids, and my wife. They help me through the training and the fund-raising aspect.”

Patten and his wife of 12 years, Kerry, have two children — Connor, 7, and Kara, 4. He is well acquainted with charity work at Mepham High, which takes in students from North Bellmore and part of North Merrick. “For the past few years here in Bellmore and Merrick, my teaching partner, Kerry Dennis, and I have led the service programs here at Mepham High,” said Patten, who teaches history and government. “We usually do two projects a year, one in the fall and one in the spring, for the two sets of seniors. The idea of service is something I’ve always been really passionate about, community, helping others, working for a cause that is greater than yourself.”