Chasing the Dream
When I started running I was 13 and my training consisted of running laps around my yard. At the time it was hard to explain what attracted me to something that was so simple; I remember unsuccessfully trying to convince my brother to run with me. There was something that drew me to running even then. I began racing local road races with my sister and uncles who ran regularly and I loved competing. I wasn’t fast, my first three 5k’s were all slower than 23 minutes, but there was one thing that compelled me to continue. The idea that the more I ran, the faster I would get was addicting to me. I wanted to push myself more and challenge what I could handle.
In high school I was becoming a strong local runner, but certainly was not garnering any serious attention from colleges. As I ran more I found myself running out of time in the day to run as much as I wanted so during my senior year of high school I started getting up at 5:30 AM to run before school. Before bed I would lay out my running clothes next to my bed so that I wouldn’t waste any time. My alarm would go off at 5:30 and I would hit the road by 5:33 AM. I would run my 7 mile loop all winter in the dark and cold. This is when I knew I had found a passion that I would carry with me throughout my life. I really did not know how good I was going to be, but there was one thing that would carry me to achieve many goals; I was willing to work. My best times in high school were 4:42 for 1600 meters and 9:48 for 3200 meters. Good enough to qualify for the New York State meet, but I was not the best runner in the State, or Section and I wasn’t satisfied.
My freshman year of college I attended Broome Community College where I met a very important person in my life, Tom Carter.
Tom was the cross country coach at BCC but it wasn’t his coaching that was significant to me, it was his passion. Tom and I shared something in common, our incredible passion for distance running. To this day there are only a few people I have met who can even understand Tom and his passion.
When Tom was in his 20’s and 30’s he did one thing, and only one thing, RUN. Tom may not be proud of it now, but his 1.0 GPA his freshman year of college was not a reflection of a lazy student, just the opposite. Tom did some things in his life that seem absolutely crazy, unless of course you share his same passion, in which case it made perfect sense. Yes, Tom made perfect sense to me and I wanted to follow his lead. Tom lived a frugal life; in fact he had lived in a car, a gas station and on a porch at different times of his life. Tom chose these because he wanted to focus completely on running. He could not tie himself down with a job. Running brought Tom many victories including the Utica Boilermaker in 1979.
Tom went on to run a 3:58 mile and 14:04 5k. There was however one thing that eluded Tom, the Olympic Trials. Tom trained for years and was never able to hit a qualify mark for the Olympic Trials for Track and Field. Tom does not regret any of his journeys, in fact he wouldn’t trade it for anything. The best advice anyone has ever given to me was from Tom and it is simple: “Chase the Dream”.
Check back next week for Part 2 of Fred’s Blog Chasing the Dream
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