Paul's running home page

This is me finishing the Zoy Run in November 1997. Textbook form. And then me, 15 years later. Older guy, better form.

a brief timeline:

• 1984-1988: I started running cross-country as a freshman at Eastern High School in Greentown, IN. I ran cross-country and track all four years without distinction. Bests: 17:27 for 5K cross-country; 10:54 for the 3200 on the track.
• 1988-1992: I went off to college at Wabash and decided to do it again. In the first week of practice Rob Johnson (1995 Div.III Coach of the Year!) observed my awkward running form and predicted I wouldn't last a month. Well, I lasted, and even made the top 7 for about 2 weeks (it was a good team, OK?) in 1990. I left with a best of 26:30 for 5-mile cross country and 34:44 for the 10,000 on the track.
• November 1995-January 1999: During the last four years of graduate school, I ran 9 marathons and 4 ultramarathons (races longer than 26.2 miles). Highlights:
  • In 1995 ran my first marathon at Columbus, in 3:09:14, good enough to qualify for the 100th Boston in April.
  • My fastest marathon, in Kentucky, December 1996: 3:04:47.
  • 1996-1998: Three Boston Marathons in a row, never very fast, but good experiences.
  • May 1996: I ran my first ultramarathon, the Ice Age Trail 50 Miler, 11:29:56, including 15 miles of walking and a 20 minute nap, all on a day when the temperature reached 88F.
• October 1998: I ran a half marathon in Indianapolis in 1:21:42 and then drove down to Bloomington to bike the Hilly Hundred - 50 miles that same day, 50 the next. And I felt pretty good. Decades later, I look back and say that was the day I could have run a sub-3 hour marathon. Instead, I ran Columbus 3 weeks later with a bad cold in 3:17:48.
• January 1999-August 2000. Since that last marathon, many things happened. I got engaged. I wrote my thesis and finished my Ph.D. I moved to Pennsylvania and then took a bike trip across Cuba. I worked on a vegetable farm. We moved again, to Bloomsburg. I started a new job, as an assistant professor at Bloomsburg University. We moved once more, buying a house in the country across the Susquehanna River and over Nescopeck Mountain from Bloomsburg.
• August 2000-November 2001. Somewhere between carrying a 140 pound drum sander upstairs, turning my ankle in a hole in Los Angeles, and slipping on ice while walking my parents' dogs, I did some bad stuff to my back and hips. I did the physical therapy, had a shot in my spine, and I'm on a stretching routine. I'm hoping I'll be back to running in 2002.
• And beyond. Well, I wrote I hoped to be back running in 2002. Instead, we had a baby. Four years later, we had another. I decided that if there ever was a time in my life to take a break from running, it was the years when the kids were small. And so I did. For many years. In 2009, I ran the Market Street Mile. Our daughter Anna ran the accompanying half mile. I realized that the last time I had run a race, she was not even in utero.
• This is not about running but it does involve covering ground on foot. In 2013, along with 2 others, I walked from Mount Holly, NJ to Wyalusing, PA, to commemorate the 1763 journey of John Woolman to visit the Native American settlement there. We covered 215 miles in two weeks. It is interesting to me that after all the marathons and ultras, the highest mileage week I've ever had - 117 miles - came this way, walking rather than running.
• 2015: Back to the ultras! The first was the very rocky, very hilly Worlds End Ultra, 33.5 miles in May 2015. The second was also hilly and rocky, a Susquehanna Ultra Run 50K in Lancaster and York Counties. The third - the Tussey Mountainback 50 miler - was hilly and gravelly, but all on roads, so much faster. And then Worlds End again in 2016. And again in 2018. I am pleasantly surprised at how well it has gone.
• 2017: Back to the marathons! Somewhere in Peru in early 2017, I decided that even though I never broke three hours whilein my 20s, maybe I could do it in my late 40s. Here is the story so far:
  • September 2017: 3:24:46 at the Abebe Bikila Marathon. Who knew DC in September was hot and humid?
  • April 2018: 3:22:44 at the Garden Spot Village Marathon in Lancaster County. Those who remember April will remember three weekends with highs in the 40s/50s and one weekend when it was in the 80s. Guess when the marathon was?
  • October 2018: 3:14:01 at the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton. Another day in the 70s.
  • March 2019: 3:13:56 at the Two Rivers Marathon, finishing in Lackawaxen, PA. Marathons are hard.

races I've run many many times:

• Greentown Glass Festival 5-mile: 1985-92, 94-96, 98 (12 times)
• Wabash College Alumni Meet: 1988-98 (11 times)
• Shoals Catfish Festival 5K: 1986, 88-91, 93-96, 98, 2010 (11 times)
• Indianapolis Mini-Marathon: 1988-90, 92, 94-96, 99 (8 times)
• Market Street Mile: 2009-10, 12-15, 17-18 (8 times)
• Purdue Co-Rec 8K: 1992-93, 95-98 (6 times)
• Run for the Diamonds: 2012, 14-15, 17-19 (6 times)
• Sick Trail Run 2011-12, 14-15, 17, 19 (6 times)
• Prophetstown Run: 1990, 93, 96-98 (5 times)
• Run for the Cookies: 2000-01, 14, 19-20 (5 times)

recent favorites:

• Market Street Mile, Bloomsburg, in early September
• Tussey Mountainback 50 mile relay (or solo), over in Boalsburg, mid-October
• Sick Trail Run, at the Sick Farm, north of Millville, July
• Chris Shultz Memorial 5K, Millville, late June
• Run for the Diamonds, Thanksgiving morning in Berwick
• Worlds End Ultramarathon (50K), early June at Worlds End State Park

overall wins (this happens from time to time, all depending on who doesn't show up...)

• 1986: Camp Epworth 1 and 2 mile
• 1995: Brookston Apple-Popcorn Festival 10K
• 1996: Brookston Apple-Popcorn Festival 10K
• 1997: Brookston Apple-Popcorn Festival 10K
• 1998: Prophetstown Run 5 mile
• 1998: Air Force ROTC 5K
• 2011: Robbins Run 5K
• 2013: CCHS Run for the Bulls 5K
• 2014: Robbins Run 10K
• 2015: Chris Shultz Memorial 5K
• 2016: Chris Shultz Memorial 5K
• 2016: Montour Preserve Spring Fever Trail 30K
• 2017: Chris Shultz Memorial 5K
• 2018: Humdinger Plus Trail Race (13.8 mi)
• 2018: Laps for Lexi 5K
• 2018: Great Pumpkin 5K
• 2019: Turbotville Elementary Spring 5K
• 2019: Pine Creek Challenge 100K
• 2019: Danville Area Community Center 5K

marathons:

• Boston: 1996, 1997, 1998
• Kentucky: 1996, 1997
• Columbus: 1995, 1998
• Houston: 1998, 1999
• Abebe Bikila (DC): 2017
• Garden Spot Village (PA): 2018
• Steamtown (PA): 2018
• Two Rivers (PA): 2019

ultramarathons:

• Pine Creek Challenge 100K, Pennsylvania: 2019
• Ice Age Trail 50 mile, Wisconsin: 1996
• Tussey Mountainback 50 mile, Pennsylvania: 2015, 2020
• Howl at the Moon 8hr Run (44.23 miles), Illinois: 1997
• Worlds End 50K, Pennsylvania: 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019
• KTA Susquehanna Ultra Run 50K, Pennsylvania: 2015
• Huntington Ultra Frigid Fifty 50K, Indiana: 1998
• Lairig Ghru Race, 28 mile, Scotland: 1997

Personal Records

Distance	Time	Event	Date	Pace
400m	:59.8	U. of Chicago 4x400 relay	09.02.91	4:00.6
800m	2:12	EHS track meet	??.05.87	4:25.5
1600m	4:52	Wabash time trial	04.05.92	4:53.7
2 miles	10:17	Danville Invitational split	29.09.90	5:08.5
5K	16:34	Rose-Hulman dual meet	31.03.92	5:19.9
4 miles	21:17	GLCA meet split	15.09.90	5:19.3
5 miles	26:30	GLCA meet	15.09.90	5:18.0
10K	34:44	ICAC meet	25.04.92	5:35.4
9 miles	56:17	Berwick Run for the Diamonds	28.11.19	6:15.2
half-marathon	1:21:41	Indpls/Lawrence Half-Marathon	10.10.98	6:13.9
marathon	3:04:47	Kentucky Marathon	07.12.96	7:02.9
50K	4:37:51	HUFF 50K (32.4mi adjusted)	27.12.98	8:56.6
44.23 miles	8 hours	Howl at the Moon 8hr Run	09.08.97	10:51.1
50 miles	7:57:05	Tussey Mountainback	11.10.20	9:32.5
100K	9:37:03	Pine Creek Challenge	07.09.19	9:17.2