Runner of the Month - Craig Miller
When did you start running and why? I began to run when I got out of the Army after being drafted. I was the "old" person on the college basketball team I played for. In order to get in better shape than all the other players, I would put on my Converse Allstars and run several miles after basketball practice was over. This was not before running shoes were developed, but before I knew anything about what running shoes were! The cross country coach at the school asked me to run in the conference meet with several other schools. I finished in the top 10 at the meet and the seed was planted.
2. How often and how far do you run? Distance and intensity have changed over the years as I age. When I was employed by the City of Lynchburg, I was awarded a Fitbit and have obsessed over those "10,000" steps a day since that time! I did have a streak of at least 5 miles a day from 2019 till this past Super Bowl weekend when I had the flu for a day. I started up when that bug passed, but missed a day when I fell off the top of our RV and landed on my tailbone and back. I have that "addictive" gene, so I try to do something everyday. Wisdom would say take some days off, unfortunately you would think age and wisdom would merge, not in this brain, but I would hope for more wisdom in the future!!
3. Where do you like to run? Since I live a few miles from Bedford, most of my runs are there on Independence Blvd, Longwood and the Bedford 5K course and other streets. Elkton Farm road is always nice and the 10 miler course has a lot of familiarity!! I suspect in a few years, there may be the challenge to do it 55 times, ha.
4. I believe that you were on a quest to run marathons in all 50 states. What prompted that? I heard about it around 10 or more years ago. I had already completed marathons in twenty some states at that time, so why not finish the remaining states. The quest began and was completed a few years ago with state # 50 done in Des Moines, my birth state of Iowa. I am in my low 20's if I want to take a second lap, but now my bucket list is to finish all 7 continents and what is called the "big seven".
5. Which were the best marathons? When you have completed a little over 100 of them, several have left an indelible breathless finish. Now, I have some friends I have met in running some of those, like Angela Tortice (world record holder for women with over 1,300 marathon finishes) and Jim and Larry who both have over 2,000 finishes! I am a mere pup by comparison. My first was in Erie, Pa. and it was flat and rainy, but I never hit the wall. I have hit plenty of "walls" over the years though!! Since I missed a BQ time for Boston by a few minutes, that became my next step that happened in my second marathon in Pittsburgh with my PR of 3:11. My first Boston was memorable, when I finished, I finally found my wife for a ride. When I went over a fence barrier, I caught my shorts and put a small hole near the bottom of them. I am still aghast that she threw those sacred shorts out!! NYC was grand because I was in the first wave over the Verrazzano bridge, the crowds were large and supportive and my daughter Cheyenne and my two oldest grandsons came along which was great!
I have been blessed to do the Goofy Challenge in Disney twice, both times after finishing my regimens of chemotherapy. Mike Mitchell came along for one of them and that was fun. Finishing on the 50 yard line in Knoxville at the U of T was nice. Passing the statue of Knute Rockne of Notre Dame fame as you finish on the 50 yard line in South Bend was memorable, it was also extremely hot! A lap inside Lambeau field in Green Bay is grand especially when that is your favorite football team! My first time doing the marathon in Maui, I was struggling with a pulled hamstring and ended up running/walking with a distant relative from Iowa that I had never met before. If you are going to suffer doing a marathon, it might as well be in Maui, right?? I completed a marathon in Idaho and then met Dave Haring in CO so we could finish 6 marathons in 6 days in 6 states. There were many new friends to meet on those days and also see places like Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore and the place to put your foot on the emblem for the center of the nation! In Los Angeles, the course took you down the street with "stars" of Hollywood fame. I have been privileged to run the "first marathon" with my 3 kids: Chelsie in Baltimore along with Alicia Roberts, and Richmond with Jordan one year and Cheyenne another year! I also met Chelsie, Cheyenne, Alicia, and Alexis in Cincinnati for the Flying Pig Marathon on a Sunday after doing the one in Illinois the day before.
6. Which marathons were less than the best? The marathon in Potter County PA was a steady hill for the first 17 miles! My last Boston marathon was with a slightly sore hip. I started 12,000 in the field and ended up 22,000 in the field, ahead of the final 200 people on the course. The next day my wife asked me why my leg was all black, from hip to knee. It was my sore hip flexor that was painful from mile 1 to the finish. She asked why I didn't just quit the race. My comment? "You don't quit Boston". I signed up for Chicago one year but was hit by a car on a training run and couldn't do it. I signed up for Chicago a second time and that was the year they discovered stage 4 colon cancer. Chemotherapy and marathoning is not a good marriage, so I missed that one too. My last attempts to sign up for Chicago have all been met with a lottery failure. I have told my family that when I finally get in, maybe they should do funeral arrangements, ha! I hit that proverbial "wall" in Richmond one year and was passed by Bret Boman and his wife around mile 21 and another hot year had Wayne Patton, Kevin Shroyer and myself all struggling at the end and finishing arm in arm. We dubbed ourselves the 3 Musketeers, but more likely the 3 blind mice or 3 stooges would have been more accurate. This past year would have been the 50th anniversary of the Marine Corps Marathon and my 8th time to do it, unfortunately my car was towed away during the night and I never made it to the starting line! There have been fewer magical marathons than those that wring your heart out to the finish line. That is the nature of a marathon, but it does not deter us from attempting them!!
7. Is there a story or two to share from this quest? Two grand things that have come from this quest: The first is all the friends you do a marathon with or new friends you make along the way of doing mile after mile together. The second is the "new" quest that is born from the first. After 50 states, then what? How about all 7 continents and finish the "big seven". Doing the original course in Athens Greece last year was moving and having just returned from a mathon in Luxor, Egypt and seeing all the history in Luxor, pyramids, the Grand Museum was awe inspiring. Next is a marathon in Sydney Australia in August. I have to first raise some funds for the Endure to Cure Pediatric Cancer foundation, hint, hint, ha, ha!! Cancer in adults is awful, but cancer in children is heartbreaking.
8. Why should a runner belong to the LRCC? First reason is discounts!!!! Getting a discount on a race just makes you want to sign up for one or two or three. The camaraderie you experience from both races or group runs is enviable to those who don't have a connection like runners have. There are other runners out there to encourage you, inspire you and even push you a little to become a better runner than you thought possible!
9. What questions did you wish we asked, but didn't, and what are the answers? When are you going to stop running? I have never thought about stopping. I have less than 10 marathons on my bucket list and then I can just do them for the fun of it!! Age and injuries slow you down, but not enough to put out the fire. I hope to do one after 75 so I can be in a new age group!!
If you had to do it all over again, would you? I would do it all over again, but I would hope I could be a little obsessive about it. My dad and grandfather were both alcoholics so I turned that addictive gene towards running and not drinking. I would spend more time stretching and chronicle my runs better as well.
