PROFILE--Dave McGillivray has been running for 52 years

 

It's hard to imagine anyone Boston stronger
or more resilient than McGillivray.

(10-18) Friday morning, Boston Marathon race-director and uber-endurance and charity runner Dave McGillivray will undergo open-heart surgery. Please join us in wishing him well. We fully expect to see him back to his usual tricks in Hopkinton and Boston next April.

McGillivray is widely known for his stamina, compassion, and organizational skills, but we believe his most admirable trait is his candor. Dave doesn't duck questions; he answers fully and truthfully. This has become particularly clear in recent years as he has discussed his personal health challenges.

Career/profession? I am the founder and owner of DMSE Sports, Inc. (38 years - event management company and have directed or consulted on over 1,100 events), and I am the Race Director of the BAA Boston Marathon (have been with the BAA for over 31 years).

When did you start running and WHY? Like most active young boys, I always “ran around” but started to “run” seriously and competitively at age 12. Why? Because I was

RESEARCH--A New Look At Age Graded Performances

Ed Whitlock ran a 2:54 marathon at age 73,
and a 3:56 at 85.

Many Lifetime Runners are accustomed to evaluating their race times with the widely-used and excellent World Masters Association age-graded system. There are many versions of this calculator around the web, and they are sometimes included in computerized road-race results.

There is another less-well-known system, created by Ray Fair, a retired Yale University economist who has run 39 of 41 New Haven 20K road races, missing the event only when ill or injured.  Fair, 75, recently updated his system--an update covered by the New York Times.  An abstract of his new paper, published by The Review of Economics and Statistics,  is available here.

The Fair system differs little from the WMA calculator--it’s just a matter of how deep

PROFILE--Debbie Zockoll has finished 42 St. George Marathons in a row

(10-18) Debbie Zockoll, 62, holds the unofficial world record for consecutive finishes in the same annual marathon. She has completed the St. George (Utah) Marathon 42 times in a row, the most recent three days ago when she finished in 4:17:24. "Oh, what a day! It was filled with so much happiness and emotion," she emailed LifetimeRunning. "I have so much to be thankful for, and I am already looking forward to next year."

A wife, mother, grandmother, former teacher, current hiking guide, and 278-time marathon finisher, Zockoll had her third cancer surgery just six weeks before this year's St. George Marathon. [The following interview was conducted prior to her most-recent St. George finish.]

Career-profession? I taught first grade for 30 years. I currently work as a hike guide for a fitness spa 5 days a week. I usually get up at 3:30 a.m. for a

PROFILE--Mary Harada has been running for 50 years

(10-18) Mary Harada grew up in Newton, MA and was always physically active. She played sports in high school, field hockey, basketball and softball. Running was not on her radar.  All that changed when she turned 33 and started to run. Harada, now 83, holds world records in the indoor and outdoor mile (W70), several American records (W70 and W75) in the 3000 and 5000 meter, and is a member of the US Track and Field Masters Hall of Fame.  Her running has taken her around the globe to places such as Finland, Australia, and Spain.  She lives in West Newbury, MA.

She graduated from Boston University Sargent College as a physical therapy major and went on to get her PhD in European History. Post-college, there were no sports available so she played field hockey for Boston Field Hockey - teams were made up mostly of graduates of the seven sisters colleges. “I had limited opportunity for sports until after I finished

PROFILE--Bart Yasso has been running for 44 years

1981 Long Island Marathon

(10-18) Bart Yasso, the retired Chief Running Officer at Runner’s World, has traveled to races around the world from Pennsylvania to Africa, and into the hearts of countless runners he met at race expos and running lectures.  He is one of a few people to have completed races on all seven continents, including the Mount Kilimanjaro marathon. But more importantly to Bart, “It's not the details of the races I recall, it's the people I met.”  To thousands of runners, he is their mayor of running, their guru, their go-to person for advice or simply to say, “Thank you for the encouragement to get out and run.” In his years at Runner’s World, he’s received marriage proposals and many more interesting emails. Now retired, he is still in demand as a speaker but is trying to carve out some time to relax at home in Bethlehem, PA, a rare moment for the Mayor of Running.

Started running: December, 1977. I’m 62 and feel great.

Why did you start running? I was 22 at the time and needed a lifestyle change to get in shape. I was leading a kind of risky life, smoking, drinking and other

PROFILE--Norm Goluskin has been running for 44 years

At World Masters Games,
Finland, 2009

(9-18) Norm Goluskin came late to running but made up for lost time. His father was an immigrant from Odessa, Ukraine (formerly Russia) and the focus in the household was on making a living and making sure his sons had an education. Exercise and sports were not even on his parents' radar.  But by sheer luck, Goluskin happened to be in Central Park on September 29, 1974 and saw a bunch of old guys running around the park for 26.2 miles and thought, “Heck I can that.” Historical note: On that day, the late Norbert Sander and Kathrine Switzer became the only New York City residents to win the New York City Marathon.

Childhood: I was raised in The Bronx in a middle-class housing project. Well, at least we aspired to middle class. The project was built around a playground with a softball field, handball courts, basketball courts and even a paddle tennis court. In addition, there were regular games of ring-a-levio, a game born on the streets of New York City. My early years were largely spent playing these street sports. I ran around a lot and I was one of the faster kids in the neighborhood, but I never participated in races or on a track team.

After high school my participation in these street sports fell by the wayside. I spent time in the Marine Corps, then went on to college at night and worked full time during the day for an advertising agency.  There was almost no time for recreation. Once I finished undergraduate school, I started playing tennis and skiing.

Started running? I was 36 (born September, 1938 - just turned 80!).  I started running somewhat regularly in advance of the 1976 New York City Marathon, the first 5-borough marathon and my first marathon. I was 38 when I ran that one. For those of you who are running historians, Bill Rodgers won that marathon in 2:10 (a 4:58 pace) and Miki Gorman in 2:39 (6:04 pace).

Why did you start running? In September of 1974 I was in Central Park and happened upon the New York City Marathon. I was astonished that anyone could run 26.2 miles.  I was 36 at the time, and was inspired and started putting in a few runs a week.  I found I was better at

PROFILE--Eve Pell has been running for 40+ years

(9-18) Eve Pell, 81, has won gold medals in international senior track and field competitions, including the recent World Masters Games in Malaga, Spain. There she finished first in the W80 cross-country event. Closer to home, Pell has won the storied, grueling (and age-sex handicapped) Dipsea trail race, crossing the finish line first in 1989 when she was 52.

Pell is also an acclaimed author and journalist. She reported for three award-winning PBS documentaries and was published in The Nation, Ms., and Runners’ World.  She is the author of,  "Love, Again - The Wisdom of Unexpected Romance, and the nationally acclaimed "We Used To Own The Bronx,” a memoir of growing up an east coast debutante in a family of wealth and privilege and escaping that world to pursue and report on social activism. It was a finalist for “Best Books 2010” award.

Pell lives in Mill Valley, CA, where she runs with the Tamalpa Runners.

Started running: April, 1977.  I was forty. (Born in 1937) 

Why did you start running? I was raised on Long Island, New York, in a family that valued athletics more than academics. We had horses, and I was taken out of school for a few weeks in the fall so I could join my mother and stepfather when they went to Maryland for foxhunting. I rode from the age of 2 or 3, competed in horse shows, and grew up learning how