Running Story

My Running Story

Story*Training*Injury*Schedule*Spectators*Statistics

I had always wanted to run a marathon... along with flying and learning to play the guitar, it was one of my lifelong goals.

In 1985, after seeing the Nike "Way To Go Joanie!" commercial featuring Joan Benoit (the day after her record-breaking Boston win), I decided to try one.

Click here to see the 30 second version (13MB)

(The 60 second version was much better. It shows the alarm going off as well has her reacting to the rain.)

I was training for the mid-march (86) St. Patrick's Day Marathon, and running 10 to 13 miles a day. In the early 80's, there weren't the training regimens that there are now, and pretty foolish by todays training methods.

I had been told, by Coach, Friend and Mentor Rich Grabisch "You can run twice and far as you can run."

The "original" Baltimore Marathon had a 10-K run as well, and I thought it would be a nice tune up.

Held in mid-December of 1985, I ran it in a pretty good time (for me) of about 45 minutes.

The next day, I was sore, so I didn't run.

The following day, it was freezing rain, and I skipped my run again.

I decided to wait until the start of the new year to get back to my training.

I never ran again.

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Until July, 2000....

I met a marathoner Cathie Aucock, who had a picture finishing the 2000 Marine Corp, and I said that I had always wanted to run one, but that I had "...40 year old knees and a 40 year old back.... She said:

"Anyone can finish a marathon; you just can't win."

Unconvinced, with stiff knees and a historically bad back, I started running again.

My first run (July 15, 2000) was 2/10ths of a mile long, and I was seen dragging my lungs behind me.

On Sunday, February 18th, 2001, I completed my first marathon, the Motorola, in Austin Texas, in 4 hours 26 minutes, slightly slower than my training 10 minute per mile pace...

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On Saturday, October 11th, 2008, I completed my 50th marathon, in Baltimore, in 5 hours 20 minutes,
an average of 6 marathons a year for the last 7 years, 9 months.

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Updated October 13th, 2008