Runners
I LOVE THIS PHOTO of my sister, Sarah, and me running together when we were kids. Four decades later, I still remember the moment. I’m 8 and she’s 3, and we’re holding hands, sprinting across the Mall in Washington, D.C., where our family lived for a time. The truth is, I’m pulling her along, faster than she could possibly go on her own. But look at those joyful-jailbreak expressions on our faces. We’re silent-laughing—laughing so hard that no sound comes out. I thought of that photo while reading “My Sister, the Runner?” Writer at Large Steve Friedman’s account of coaxing his younger (and defiantly nonrunning) sister, Ann, into doing a 5-K with him (page 98). I think it’s one of the best stories we’ve ever published. It’s about running the way The Godfather is about the mafia. What it’s really about is family. When it comes to running, Sarah is the anti-Ann. She started in college after deciding on a whim to do a triathlon. She did both all through law school and babies, and now, at 42, she’s the most dedicated and decorated athlete in the family. She’s done four marathons, and although an old knee injury slows her down, she often wins her age group in triathlons and occasionally wins outright. In August, she com- COURTESY OF MARATHONFOTO (RACE) The idea is to work more like siblings, and direct additional time, talent, and resources toward producing more original content for the Web and smartphones— where runners are spending more of their time—while still making great magazines. So look for a Web site redesign and a new mobile app from us early in 2015. Beginning with this double issue, our first, the frequency of Runner’s World will go from 12 issues per year to 11. (Existing subscriptions will be extended by one issue.) We are also integrating the editorial staffs of RW and sibling title Running Times, which speaks exclusively to highly dedicated, competitive, front-of-the-pack runners (that’s the cover of RT’s Jan/ Feb issue below). RT’s frequency will also change, from 10 issues per year to six bimonthly issues. peted in the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships in the sprint division, finishing in 1:19:49. “I never saw myself as someone who could win races,” she says. “But when I turned 40, I decided to really turn it on and see what I could do. I’ve gotten faster each year. We’ll see how long I can keep that up…”
I LOVE THIS PHOTO of my sister, Sarah,
and me running together when
we were kids. Four decades later,
I still remember the moment. I’m
8 and she’s 3, and we’re holding
hands, sprinting across the Mall
in Washington, D.C., where our
family lived for a time. The truth
is, I’m pulling her along, faster
than she could possibly go on her
own. But look at those joyful-jailbreak
expressions on our faces.
We’re silent-laughing—laughing
so hard that no sound comes out.
I thought of that photo while
reading “My Sister, the Runner?”
Writer at Large Steve Friedman’s
account of coaxing his younger
(and defiantly nonrunning) sister,
Ann, into doing a 5-K with
him (page 98). I think it’s one of
the best stories we’ve ever published.
It’s about running the way
The Godfather is about the mafia.
What it’s really about is family.
When it comes to running,
Sarah is the anti-Ann. She started
in college after deciding on a
whim to do a triathlon. She did
both all through law school and
babies, and now, at 42, she’s the
most dedicated and decorated
athlete in the family. She’s done
four marathons, and although an
old knee injury slows her down,
she often wins her age group in
triathlons and occasionally wins
outright. In August, she com-
COURTESY OF MARATHONFOTO (RACE)
The idea is to
work more like
siblings, and
direct additional
time, talent, and
resources toward
producing more
original content
for the Web and
smartphones—
where runners are
spending more of
their time—while
still making great
magazines. So
look for a Web site
redesign and a new
mobile app from
us early in 2015.
Beginning with this
double issue, our
first, the frequency
of Runner’s World
will go from 12
issues per year
to 11. (Existing
subscriptions will
be extended by
one issue.) We are
also integrating the
editorial staffs of
RW and sibling title
Running Times,
which speaks
exclusively to
highly dedicated,
competitive,
front-of-the-pack
runners (that’s the
cover of RT’s Jan/
Feb issue below).
RT’s frequency will
also change, from
10 issues per year
to six bimonthly
issues.
peted in the USA Triathlon Age
Group National Championships
in the sprint division, finishing
in 1:19:49. “I never saw myself as
someone who could win races,”
she says. “But when I turned 40,
I decided to really turn it on and
see what I could do. I’ve gotten
faster each year. We’ll see how
long I can keep that up…”
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H<br />
R<br />
HOLIDAY<br />
HAUL<br />
Seven marathons in seven<br />
days That’s how a group of<br />
diehards close out the year.<br />
On December 26, when most<br />
folks kick back, 23 runners from<br />
eight states will descend on a park in<br />
Ocala, Florida, to circle a 5.24-mile<br />
loop five times. The next day, many<br />
will run the exact same 26.2 miles,<br />
and the next day, and every day<br />
through January 1, in the fifth year of<br />
the Savage Seven Marathons.<br />
The ceremony of repetition is the<br />
brainchild of Chuck Savage, 76, an<br />
architect and serial marathoner, who<br />
came up with the idea in 2010. “I’d<br />
noticed that little business got done<br />
between Christmas and New Year’s,<br />
so I started this to have something to<br />
do,” he says. He invited friends from<br />
the 50 States Marathon Club and<br />
Marathon Maniacs to join him on his<br />
local track in Ocala to run 26.2—<br />
seven days in a row. Five people went<br />
the distance each day that week, and<br />
to Savage’s surprise, they wanted to<br />
do it again. The event attracts emptynesters<br />
and retirees on quixotic<br />
quests for marathon milestones (such<br />
as the seven event regulars at right).<br />
While a few will finish in the threehour<br />
range, most take five-plus hours,<br />
particularly by the end of the week.<br />
“We’ve tried postrun activities, but<br />
everybody’s so tired,” says Cheryl<br />
Murdock, this year’s race director,<br />
one of three runners who rotate that<br />
duty. “I’ve tried to get people to go<br />
to a New Year’s Eve celebration, but<br />
they just want to sleep!” —NICK WELDON<br />
DECEMBER<br />
28 29 30 31 1<br />
26 27<br />
Frank Bartocci, 67<br />
Rochester, Minnesota<br />
617 lifetime marathons, 65<br />
ultras, nine-time 50-stater<br />
Bartocci, who has<br />
completed all seven<br />
Savage marathons<br />
three times, spends<br />
more than 250 days<br />
a year on the road<br />
traveling to races.<br />
He usually crashes in<br />
motels, but occasionally<br />
parks his Nissan<br />
Altima—packed<br />
with an air mattress,<br />
sleeping bag, and 10<br />
running outfits—in<br />
a Walmart lot. “A<br />
lot of us 50-staters<br />
park there together;<br />
they allow overnight<br />
parking.”<br />
Jean Evansmore, 74<br />
Mount Hope, West Virginia<br />
130-plus lifetime marathons,<br />
50-stater<br />
The woman known to<br />
her peers as “Mama<br />
Jean” is the only person<br />
who has run every<br />
Savage Seven Marathon<br />
since the event’s<br />
inception. “My first<br />
year I heard people<br />
debating whether or<br />
not I could do it,” she<br />
says. “That’s incentive<br />
enough to keep<br />
going—my goal is to<br />
prove you wrong.”<br />
Rick Karampatsos, 69<br />
Longwood, Florida<br />
89 lifetime marathons<br />
A series of misfortunes—a<br />
horrific motorcycle<br />
accident as a<br />
teen, a crushed foot<br />
(run over by a truck),<br />
severe osteoarthritis—<br />
should have discouraged<br />
Karampatsos<br />
from running. But<br />
when a friend invited<br />
him to run a 10-K on a<br />
whim in 2001, he went<br />
with it and has tallied<br />
20,000 miles since.<br />
Troy Johnson, 67<br />
Cathie Johnson, 62<br />
Red Boiling Springs,<br />
Tennessee<br />
213 lifetime marathons, both<br />
are two-time 50-staters<br />
This husband-and-wife<br />
team used to run 5-Ks<br />
and 10-Ks separately<br />
until they both signed<br />
up for a 1996 marathon.<br />
They ran it<br />
together—appreciating<br />
the company and<br />
the support—and have<br />
run side-by-side ever<br />
since. “If we sat at<br />
home, he’d read<br />
the newspaper and<br />
I’d watch TV and<br />
neither one of us<br />
would be talking,”<br />
Cathie says. “Running<br />
together helps you<br />
communicate.”<br />
Cheryl Murdock, 64<br />
Pensacola, Florida<br />
307 lifetime marathons,<br />
50-stater<br />
This year’s race director<br />
used to get teased<br />
for her slow pace—she<br />
finishes in the six-hour<br />
range. But Murdock<br />
embraces it and wears<br />
a turtle necklace to<br />
race. “People who are<br />
fast can train for time.<br />
Otherwise, it’s better<br />
to just have fun.”<br />
Chuck Savage, 76<br />
Ocala, Florida<br />
353 lifetime marathons,<br />
three-time 50-stater,<br />
16 ultramarathons<br />
Not one to let an<br />
idle moment pass,<br />
Savage also founded<br />
the Ocala Marathon,<br />
which he directed for<br />
nine years, and in 2013<br />
he launched the New<br />
England Challenge—<br />
a circuit of five marathons<br />
in five states in<br />
five days—which he’ll<br />
oversee again in May.<br />
22 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
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