Boston Marathon - 1979

One of our best family friends is Glenn Good.  He and my parents have been friends since the early 60s in Houston.

When Glenn was 43 he took up running with a purpose.  He worked with the top running coach in Houston and became a top marathon runner.  He qualified for the Boston Marathon several times and ran 63 marathons.  Here is a story he told about the 1st Boston Marathon he did in 1979.

Glenn grew up in Vermont and knew about the Boston Marathon.  So it was a long-time dream to do it.

The marathon has been run since 1910 or so in Boston, back when the distance was "standardized" at 26.2 miles.  So the course is historic.  It is a point to point run so you have to take a bus to the start in Hopkintown, MA and then you run back to downtown Boston.

The race starts at 11 a.m. ( much later than usual).  It is held on a Monday which is a state holiday in Mass. called Patriots Day.

So Glenn took the bus out and had to stand around in the cold.  It was very cold, he remembered.  He was from Houston so he was not ready for it.   He asked an Australian for his strategy for the race.  "It's balls to the wall, Mate".

Then when the race started, there were a lot of kids running through the various towns.  It was crowded and he could not get a pace going.  The balls had hit the wall.

Then at mile 6, he saw our other family friend standing there, Preston Moore.  Now this is only funny since Preston is the Zelig of Houston.  He was everywhere. He even died in the most dramatic way possible.  So to see him in the crowds in Boston... of course you would see him. 

When he made it to the finish, there were large casks of hot beef stew that they served the participants.  While Glenn was an experienced runner, he was not an experienced beef stew eater after running a marathon.  He ended up barfing up the stew in the middle of his hotel afterwards.

What an initial Boston Marathon experience!