Buffalo Half 2023
Last Sunday, I finished the Buffalo Half Marathon in just under 2 hours.
In 2015 I finished the New York City Half Marathon in 1:32:58
In November I finished the Philadelphia Marathon in 4:17:47
In 2015 I finished the Erie Marathon in 3:25:35
By looking at this you can see that there has been a big drop off since my career year in 2015. When I finished the thought came in my head, enough is enough. Either I have to re-dedicate myself to this or come to the realization that I am done. Time to find a place on the senior circuit where I can be the guy that everyone points at and say look at that sweet old man doing a marathon…. How cute.
I was in a similar situation in 2014, I was about to hang it up. My brother Kevin called me out and said “bull shit”. He set me up and was the driving factor in what was my best year running. I got my best time in both the Half and the Full marathon that year. Both times, 8 years later, are still my best times in those events.
Although I had a decent year in 2016, However,I was not putting in the work that I was in 2015. I can list you the reasons why, but running as a priority in my life has moved down the list.
It continued in 2017, which was one of the most trying year of my life. I lost 2 of the most important people in my life within a few weeks of each other. My family was forever changed.Running was not anywhere near the top of my life. My result in the Empire State Marathon in Syracuse NY. 2 years after I ran my best marathon in my life I barely broke 4 hours, more than a half hour slower. My wife thought that I was going to die. I fell before the finish line, I cramped up and could not move. I did manage to get up and cross the line. I was done, I didn’t want to admit it but deep down I was finished with marathons. I never verbalized it, but I never wanted to put my wife through that again. The tears in her eyes told me everything I needed to know. She did not want to see that ever again.
I continued to race between 2018 and 2022, with the largest distance I did was the half marathon. I ran 5 of them with my best time of 1:38 in Buffalo in 2019. As I went into 2022, I was done reaching any goals, I was going to run for fun, I didn’t care anymore about PR’s. I was just going to have fun.
Around May of 2022, I started to get the itch again to run a marathon. I decided to run the Philadelphia marathon in November. My brother Kevin decided to run it with me. My sister Denise also decided to participate in the weekend's events as well. This was the first time all three of us participated in the same event since my return to running in 2009. My wife was supportive, she is my biggest supporter and I know the memory of 2017 was in her head but she knew that this day was coming. I trained to finish the race and I did. I had a great time and was happy to be back to running marathons.
I signed up for the Buffalo Marathon this year. I was going to have some fun with my two kids who signed up for it. They ended up deferring until next year, so I started to train to do well in it. I was feeling pretty good until a few weeks before the event when I was in incredible pain in my mouth due to an infected tooth. I stopped training and had to deal with that. I decided to run it anyway and I finished it in barely under 2 hours. For some reason I was not discouraged, but felt more motivated than I have since 2015.
I am not going to be that cute old man running marathons. I am not done dreaming. In the movie “Rocky Balboa” Rocky told his friend Paulie that there was still “stuff in the basement”. After last Sunday I realized that there is a ton of stuff left in the basement. I may not PR anymore or even Qualify for Boston, but I am not ready to ride off into the sunset just yet. I am better than what I have been showing.
I want to thank several people that have helped me realize this. My wife, my brother Kevin, sister Denise , my kids and EVERYONE IN THE EAGER 2 RUN GROUP. I will be posting here on a regular basis to keep myself honest.
Let’s do this!!
