Once Upon a Time

I ran the Boston Marathon for the first of three times back in 1981. I did it because I was young & didn't know how to say no.

I was twenty at the time & had never been much of an athlete. I was working at a place called Plywood Ranch. I was talking to one of my coworkers & the subject of running came up. I had begun jogging a few daya a week about a month before our conversation. I would jog a mile around the block. The day before our conversation for some reason I pushed the envelope & did three laps. Three miles. I had never run that far before & I felt pretty good about it. So, I told Paul (my coworker) I had been jogging for a month. He asked me how far I ran & I told him "three miles." He said "Then you should train for the Boston Marathon & run it with me this April."

I had a hard time saying no to people back then so I said "Okay". Three months later I was standing with a pack of fellow bandit runners (runners who didn't actually qualify for Boston) at the starting line in Hopkinton. I won't lie to you, it wasn't a lot of fun. I think I clocked in pretty close to 5 hours but, the actual time is lost to me. But, I could say for the rest of my life "I ran the Boston Marathon." Pretty cool.

I ran it a few more times. I ran another marathon called the Bostonfest Marathon in '83,that's the only marathon I have an official time, certificate etc...I stopped running in 1984. I don't remember why exactly. I might've got sick of the training program. I was probably more interested in girls & partying than running. I had already started the slow creep up in weight that would culminate with topping off at 255 in 2003. I think I weighed about 165 when I first started running. I was 175 through a couple of marathons & my last one I was closer to 185.

Once I stopped running I must've tried to resume running several times over the next twenty years. Like all my other exercise regimes I would do it for a few weeks & then plop my ass back down on the couch.

Something clicked in the summer of '03. I still can't my finger on why but, I started working out regularly. It became part of my daily routine. I dropped some weight, put a lot back on again & joined WW's in March but, the exercise never stopped. I was simply eating too much.

Running began again in April. Because I had a three year base of exercise I have been able to consistently add to my long runs. There is no question I'm going to marathon again. The question is when. I keep mulling over doing the Baystate Marathon in October. I'm one long run away from making a decision. I'm almost done with the house painting. I should be able to put more energy into my training. It's an exciting time.