You never know . . .

I met Patty Lyons in 1978 at a Memorial Day 10K in Rockland.  She was making a guest appearance after achieving notoriety with wins in the Ocean State and Honolulu Marathons.  Female distance running was a relatively new sport.  In fact, until 1970 women did not compete in marathon running, but things were changing.  Patty Lyons and others made an immediate impact on the sport.  She trained nearly 150 miles per week in order to achieve those results.  Her coach, Joe Catalano, also coached at Quincy High School (with whom we compete.)  At the time I was a member of the Quincy YMCA located next to my office and would often see them training.  Patty Lyons was a phenomenal runner and athlete.

But she was not always a great athlete.  She grew up in Quincy and following high school worked two jobs to support her mother and 8 brothers and sisters.  College was not an option.  She smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and was in a word "unhealthy."  But at age 23 she took up running.  Six months later she ran a marathon . . . and won!  She was still smoking and gorging on doughnuts every morning and did not realize at that point she was a naturally gifted runner.  The best known runners at the time were all tall and lean, with years of running experience.  Patty was short and "boxy" and new to running.  But her determination coupled with the encouragement provided by her coach made her a household name.

In 1980 she won 12 of 16 major races she entered including the Bermuda and Honolulu (again) Marathons.  She held every American record from the 5 Mile to the Marathon with world records in the Half-Marathon and 30K.  Everybody loved her.

She tells the story of how one day at Boston College she was running on the track adjacent to the football field.  She had started her workout before the football players came out to practice.  When the football players came out and warmed up, she was running.  While they did their workout and their full practice, she was running.  Following their practice the entire BC football team lined up along the track and cheered her as she went by.  As she put it, "I think I danced all the way home."

Some of the foregoing was excerpted from others work, but the message is simple.  You don't know how good you can be in this sport until (a) you try it, and (b) you put all you have into it.  For those yet to try, you are welcome.  For those already hooked, make this your best season yet!

Did you notice the steeplechase picture above?  A couple of things . .  I almost described it as a turn of the century picture, but turn of the century relates differently to me than you (I think 1900!)  You'll also note there are 7 runners going over that wall.  Funny how that number 7 keeps coming up.  We have openings at the top of both the Boys and Girls teams for those willing to put in the effort.  Four weeks!  I'm excited about getting started . . .