Your claim to fame

I like that story. Now there's a humble guy. Everyone should try to be more like that, myself included.

hey wait a sec...,

By the way, Craig Merz has also run a few marathons.

Another one,

I'll never forget this 800m race in Gainesville, early 90's

i was fortunate to run to get my doors blown off by Mark Everett late that season I anchor the 4X4...I got the stick before Antonio Pettigrew...He caught me on the turn I felt like I was walking a dog.

Hey Stepay - I'm also an OWU alum. E-mail me at

OWU_alum@yahoo.com

.

hey, wait a sec

I sent you an e-mail - go read it.

So then you understand the battle cry that strikes fear into our opponents - "Go Bishops!

Here is a link to our famed mascot if no one has ever seen it before:

http://bishops.owu.edu/

The dude in red leaning on the "W" is the Battling Bishop, so named of course because since Ohio Wesleyan University is a Methodist school and is just down the street from the Methodist Theological School of Ohio, several Bishops in the methodist church graduated from OWU. There, more than any of you wanted to know.

I had group sex with some elite women the night before a major half marathon.

I was about a mile from finishing a training run on a warm summer night in 1975. Suddenly, a heavy-set man leaped out of the shadows and tackled me from behind. He ended up sitting on top of me in a leg-scissors, and I was staring up at his face.

"You want to come to my house and party? Smoke a joint?"

"That's not my thing," I replied, fighting for breath.

I chucked the guy in the side of his head just enough for him to lose his balance, and I squirmed away. I ran home very shaken up, and I didn't mention the incident to anyone.

A couple years later, John Gacy was arrested with 33 male teenage bodies buried under his home. It was John Gacy who nearly made me his victim that night.

Swear to God--true story.

That has got to be the winner. What a freaky story.

In 1969 I did a bounding workout on the surface of the moon. No big deal.

That's even more remarkable since you never set foot on the moon.

LMAO!!!!

Damn, that's weird.

Hey Stepay,

From the looks of your 5K and 10K times I think you could have really done a super marathon. Did you just never really pursue the marathon.

Anyway, here goes my story. I was lined up in a cross country race against the HS national record holder for 800m, George Kersh. I had no idea at the time who he was. Although I was never really fast in high school I did run 15:47 for 5000m. When the gun sounded George took off like a bolt of lightning. I thought to myself, he's really aking for it going out that hard. Anyway, by the next turn in the woods, I never saw him again. I thought he had gone out too fast and quit, so me and a couple of others were racing for what we thought was for 1st place. I crossed the finish line thrilled I had just PR'ed with a 15:47 only to find out I had lost by over a minute to George. He ran something like 14:39. He was at the finish looking relaxed and no worse for the wear and I was just wore slap out.

RunfortheSon,

I never ran a good marathon. During my peak running days (I'm 36 now and ran my fastest times in my early-mid 20s) I did it mainly on limited talent and limited training. I wish I would have run more then. Now, with two little kids and a wife, I just don't have the time to run as much as I'd like to.

Seriously, I think if I focused for 9 months or so and picked a marathon and the training went well and I got good weather for the race, I think I could easily beat that 2:58 PR of mine - I do think though that my 5,000 and 10,000 times are long gone. I will attempt a marathon PR in the next couple of years. I did run a 16:49 5K on the road this summer, so I'm not as far gone as I was 1 1/2 years ago when I was 48 pounds overweight and had trouble running 3 miles in 27 minutes. I have lost the 48 pounds and am at a maximum 5 pounds over what I might get down to with more serious training. Part of it is that I don't have the desire I once did - I'm sure that's a sin here, but I am feeling the middle age itch to improve (that's what lead me to change my eating habits and lose that weight to begin with). There are tons of guys who have slower 5,000 and 10,000 PRs than I do that have run much faster in the marathon, so I think I need to attempt again, and I will.

You sound alot like me except for the age. I'm 32, but with a wife and 2 small children it's tough to really find the time to train like I would like.

With that 16:49 this summer your not far at all from where you once were. I feel sure you'll run a great marathon on your next attempt. Keep up the training and enjoy that family more.

I hope you are right. It is easier to train now that my youngest is finally 2 years old, and that's why I improved so much the last year or so. While they all take me away from serious training, I enjoy them tons and would rather be running the 35-40 miles a week that I am running and do all the things I do with them than run 70-100 miles that I'm sure I would need to see a great improvement over where I am now.

Some of you may have been to or seen the camp Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams used to do for high school kids. I attended it 1996 at the Olympic Trials and then the next year managed to somehow get on staff, they must have just needed extra bodies. My HS prs were 4:35 and 9:55 since I had redshirted the year before and raced about 4 times I hadn't beatenn them at that point and I was on staff with guys like Kyle Baker and Tom Chorny, and Greg Harger and Chris Bueller famous (or infamous) for coaching the Indiana Invaders. I was also sitting at the staff table when Billy Mills had dinner with us after giving a talk to the camp.

About 5 years ago Billy Mills shot off start gun for a meet at Lehigh University, may have been Paul Short but I can't remember. My brother was running and I was still in high school.

Billy Mills was a legend at home because my Dad had raced him twice in high school, he was a senior and Billy was (I think) a freshman or sophomore but already a stud. He actually beat him the first time, and the second time they raced they were neck and neck down the final straightaway. They both started throwing elbows and wound up knocking each other down and basically got into a small fight.

Billy shoots the pistol and the runners take off. He is just standing around for a minute so afterwards so my Dad walks up to him and says hello. He immediately says - "You're that bastard from high school," and they both had a good laugh about it.

Nice guy that Billy Mills.

I only lost to Molly Huddle by 20 seconds in a 3k at the state meet last year (granted she wasn't as fast as she was this year).