I have been running for 36 years with nearly 60,000 miles of running on my feet. And yet I have never entered an organized 1/2 marathon or a marathon race. Being 58 and retired from my line of work ( a job which required me to be on my feet most of the day), I am going to dedicate the spare time I have in my day to running. The main purpose of this page is to dedicate my first organized marathon to my dad who asked me 30 years ago if I could run a marathon. I told him back then "sure, if I trained for one." Well this next year is the year. I will probably only run one organized marathon because I personally don't believe running that far is good for the human body.
Note: When I first started running in Boise, Idaho, back in the early '70s, there weren't any public organized races around-except for the Boston Marathon. In fact, I believe I was one of the few people in Boise running the streets and the tracks during this time period.
The first organized race I entered was back in 1980. It was a race called the "Weinstock's 5-mile foot-race." The race started at Sacramento's downtown plaza. I had worked all night at a Lucky store where I was the night-crew manager. I hadn't slept in 15 hours or even had anything to eat beforehand and yet I came in 20th place (I believe) in a race with over 1200 runners. My race time was 27.03 (I believe) which was OK. I felt I could have lowered my finished time had I been at the front of the pack where most of the fastest runners started from.
My first goal: To enter two half marathon races this year and then compete in my first organized marathon probably next year. The River City 1/2 Marathon in April and the Humboldt 1/2 Marathon in October. I clocked myself at 1:39 for the half marathon a week ago and hope to bring the time down to 1:30.
UPDATE: Race took place-Click on the image below to view my first organized half marathon race along with the results.
I also want to thank Doctor Gallawa for helping me with my feet when he discovered a broken bone in my foot when other doctors were telling me they couldn't explain the terrible pain in my foot. Dr. Gallawa also provided me with great orthotics and I would recommend Gallawa to anybody who needs professional help with their troubled feet.
I finished 1st in my age category, however, I wasn't excited about my finish time. I did make one mistake. I happened to spend a couple of miles talking to a nice fellow runner who finished right behind me in this. I may have wasted extra valuable energy while talking to this runner-oh well, I was happy overall for the result considering the previous two days I was trying to overcome an intestinal virus of some kind. I can thank God for assisting me at this race. I didn't stick around to receive my award for winning my age division.
I ran the American Parkway Half Marathon on May 1st. I ran out of gas half way through so I wasn't too impressed with my performance. Oh well, it's all part of the progress.
My second goal: To qualify for the Boston Marathon-if that really means anything. I could probably qualify right now but haven't entered any marathons. At age 49, I had trained for an entire year for the 2000 CIM, here in Sacramento, but couldn't run because I had caught the flu a week before the race....I wasn't very happy and I probably will never consider this marathon to run in the future because of the time of year this race is scheduled----during a time when colds and the flu are "running" rampant. When I do qualify for the BM, I will not travel to Boston to run it.
My third goal: Plan a trip to all of the churches in Sacramento, snatch a woman's purse and see if there is anybody talented like Pastor Glen Cole fast enough to chase me down...just kidding...
My forth goal: To get Jim and Joyce Raley Teel to run naked with me at the San Francisco Bay to Breakers...once again - just kidding...
I don't have too many pictures of me from my running past. Below, to the left, is a photo of me and my two kids at a Blood Run-probably in the late '80's. Over to the right is my great run in San Francisco in May of 2000.
Below are a couple of images from my Parkway Half Marathon race:
