Dad finishing New York Marathon, 1981
There are many reasons I am inspired to run the New York City Marathon but the biggest reason, without question, without doubt is my DAD. I just finished an 8 mile training run in my hometown which is, incidentally, my dad's as well. Neither of us live here anymore. To me, my dad is THE runner. For father's day, I think a post dedicated to my dad is more than appropriate. Many memories of my dad as a child are of him running. We would go watch him in races or he'd be off with his best friend on weekend mornings, running 12-15 miles like it was no big deal. We had hundreds, and I mean HUNDREDS of race t-shirts that my brother and I would wear for pajamas.
My dad was running before running was cool. He started as a young teenager in the 1960s, commuting from Long Island into Queens for school. He said at the time running was "very popular in NYC. Not as big on LI. People thought a 14 year old running 10 miles was nuts. Especially one commuting 2 1/2 hours a day to HS in NYC." Until now I thought his love of running was natural, but not so. The only reason he joined the track team was because he was (in his words) "not good enough for baseball/basketball." Ha!
Back in the 60s, they didn't have the gear we'd have now. My dad scoffed recently when I mentioned I was thinking of getting a heart monitor. His idea of marathon training is to get out there and just RUN (This attitude extends to many other areas of his life. A trait I seem to have inherited, for better or for worse - "pros play hurt" is a classic line). As I struggle to find the perfect pair of sneakers to train in, my dad told me about the options back then - "Canvas and rubber flats. Spikes for outdoor track. Adidas, Puma and Onitsuka/Tiger big. No Nike/Asics etc."
I never knew what my dad's best moment running was. I knew he had run several marathons and recently had to give running up altogether because of tendinitis (he went down fighting, spending several weeks in a cast just to immobilize his Achilles). He's biking now though. But dad's greatest moment was in college, where he ran track, playing hurt (keeping out his name here) --
1972- We finished 1-2-3 in the indoor 1,000 yard run at the NYC college championship to turn things around. Inspired team to win meet despite poor first day showing/being underdogs. I finished 3rd of the three guys from my school running with a stress fracture. Great victory lap for the three of us. Very exciting. The whole team went nuts!
Later in my life my dad did quite a lot of work with a fantastic charity organization in NYC that helped children in need. I learned to help others from him too.
Feel free to donate to the Lower East Side Girls Club in honor of my dad here
(also, Dad, you have not donated yet!)
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