I had some success as a long distance runner. My best marathon was a 2:32, my best 10k was a 34:00. My best competitive distance was 50 miles, and on two occasions I ran that distance, on trails and hills of the JFK 50-miler course in 6 hours, 14 mins and some seconds. I was a slow runner, but didn't lose much speed, even when the distances got long.
When I speak to coaches around the world, I make it crystal clear that I am no coach. I tell them a bit about my competitive running success and tell them I would have done much better if I had a decent coach. I then show them a picture of my coach- me!!
Despite my terrible coaching I had a successful competitive career. I don't recall ever winning a 10k or even a 10-miler. I often placed in the top 3-4 of my age class, but as in all competitive sports, your race results depend more on who shows up than on how fast you might be.
I ended up winning, I think 3 marathons:
The Waynesboro, VA marathon,
The St. Mary's marathon, run in part on the NAS Pax River, my old running grounds,
and, I surprisingly found myself in the lead , and eventually won the middle GA marathon from Fosyth, GA to Macon, GA. My runner brother, who got me started racing, happened to be coming down the Interstate Hwy, and for some reason, heard that I was leading or had won. He surprised me by showing up at the finish line. What a thrill.
But I ran a lot, up to 106 miles per week in Lexington, so it's gonna take me another post to get all this down.
Until then, think about running 106 miles in a week!
When I speak to coaches around the world, I make it crystal clear that I am no coach. I tell them a bit about my competitive running success and tell them I would have done much better if I had a decent coach. I then show them a picture of my coach- me!!
Despite my terrible coaching I had a successful competitive career. I don't recall ever winning a 10k or even a 10-miler. I often placed in the top 3-4 of my age class, but as in all competitive sports, your race results depend more on who shows up than on how fast you might be.
I ended up winning, I think 3 marathons:
The Waynesboro, VA marathon,
The St. Mary's marathon, run in part on the NAS Pax River, my old running grounds,
and, I surprisingly found myself in the lead , and eventually won the middle GA marathon from Fosyth, GA to Macon, GA. My runner brother, who got me started racing, happened to be coming down the Interstate Hwy, and for some reason, heard that I was leading or had won. He surprised me by showing up at the finish line. What a thrill.
But I ran a lot, up to 106 miles per week in Lexington, so it's gonna take me another post to get all this down.
Until then, think about running 106 miles in a week!
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