Jim Bernard

Yesterday I finished the Boston Marathon in soggy conditions that were appropriate to the challenging training conditions this Winter. We trained for a tough day and a tough day showed up. Some of my running buddies had to battle a brutal Minnesota snow storm: a marathon of airport delays to get to run a marathon in a cold windy rain.

But not just any marathon, the Boston Marathon. I caught the fever of the great race in the 1970’s when Bill Rodgers was the king of the course. It is an honor to cross the same hills and finish line of my boyhood hero.

Back then I was smitten with all things running. My Dad and I would lace up and run around our neighborhood in Michigan. We probably looked like weirdos since running just was kind of a niche thing back then. My first 10k was the “East Lansing State Bank Second Annual 10k” in the late 70’s and I ran it stride for stride with my Dad.

Running dropped away from me in high school, but my Dad kept rolling. He and some work buddies formed a training group and they would run marathons. I remember they laughed loudly, made wagers of beer and that there was a cape awarded every year for the best (?) performance.

Now I’m a runner and I have a training group. We run together every week and while there isn’t a cape there is lots of laughter and from time to time beer. (Realistically we are behind Dad’s group in the beer category. ) The bonds between me and my training partners are just as tight as the ones I witnessed with my Dad’s group. This is the way of runners who put in hundreds of miles together.

When I was in high school I accompanied my Dad to the Chicago Marathon and there is a great picture of the two of us at the start–if I recall he was wearing a rain slicker. This year he and my Mom came to Boston to see the Marathon and they needed that rain slicker again.

It rained pretty much all weekend culminating in a cold driving rain on race day that was not comfortable for runners much less for spectators. Boston turns out fans in all conditions and I was amazed by the number of people standing in a driving rain to cheer on people they didn’t even know. When the rain picked up, the spectators just yelled louder.

My personal spectator was tucked less than a mile from the finish. I turned right on Hereford street and saw my Dad raising his arms in celebration, soaking wet with all the other crazy marathon fans. I raised my arms like I had won the race because it felt like I was winning the race.

That’s how it feels with your running buddies. If you see them on the course you get a shot of pure adrenaline because you know they know all about your goals, your setbacks, your injuries, your hopes, your worries. A training partner can empathize about a ridiculous worry or nudge you when you need to get out and get the workout done. The people you run with are a special family.

Running is a gift. I am so very grateful to be healthy enough to run well (and this year I had a good race in Boston!). I’m blessed with amazing training partners. But perhaps most importantly, yesterday I finished the Boston Marathon cheered by the man who was my first training partner.

Here we are, finishing a training run, circa 1970’s:

How I feel today

Had a great 5k this morning with the Dales! Fun crowd, sunny downtown — a great kick off to the holiday! Plus G is a koala!!!!

Today we went back to where it all began. One bright day!

We had an early new year tonight–celebrated with a quick fire in the back yard and then all in bed before the ball dropped in New York. It’s been a tough year in some ways and a good one in some other ways. So to finish off the year the pictures from around the fire tonight…

Every family reunion should include a random bagpiper

We celebrated Suzie’s Mom’s Birthday at Niagara Falls. It was stunningly beautiful and great fun to hang out and even get wet under the falls. If you haven’t been you should go!

Losers!

Winners!

Boston Spring Break

Mandatory Kubb Picture

We played Kubb all day today, two happy teams the Kubstronauts and Mandatory Kubb. Hosted by the fine folks at Des Moines Kubb, we quickly found a defendable position at the bottom of the rankings. This lead to an epic battle between our two teams with the mandatory results being unfavorable to the Kubstro-nots. There was the celebratory twizzlers, or win-zzlers and lose-lets. A good time had by all, a group photo and the standings.

B-Squad Winners

You do have to ask yourself from time to time…

Kite beach!

Somebody is 95!

I got an email from my kids the weekend I was in Boston for the marathon and my kid included an appropriate, if somewhat ominious message for the night before the race. It showed a road stretching to the horizion and it said had a road sign with the infinity symbol on it. Keep going!

Running Boston again was everything I’d hoped for. You can get the background of why I ran it twice in this piece [I wrote for the Star Tribune.] (https://www.startribune.com/why-i-am-running-the-boston-marathon-again/255831771/) And below you can see some photos from the week before the race, race weekend and the finish line.

Too soon to say what comes next, but glad to have this one in the books. It may seem endless but in fact you do get to the finish line eventually and then home to see your kid…

Top Hat Holiday

Computer Beach

Color run

-written the day before the marathon, updated at the end-

In 1975 Bill Rodgers won the Boston Marathon in 2:09:55 marking both a course and American record and starting the running craze that swept the country including the Okemos, Michigan where I grew up. Around that time I started running with my Dad, at first little loops around the neighborhood and then a few 10k races.

Like all elementary school students I was assigned a biography and of course I chose Bill Rodgers. He was a hero to the entire running craze of the 1970s. I made a marionette (pictured, left) of Boston Billy and as part of the presentation I walked him in a small circle around the front of the classroom to a recording of the Beach Boys hit single “I Get Around.” I have a vague memory of thinking that the song was much longer than it needed to be.

Running was important for several years and then I got to high school and distance running had much less distance and the coach was a jerk. I stopped running and didn’t think about it for many years.

About five years ago I picked up running again, at first to beat back a bad cholesterol result and then because I enjoyed it. It was exciting to get in shape and see occasional race times get better. I got a subscription to Runner’s World (Thanks Pam!) and started to feel like I was that: a runner.

One day Runner’s World arrived and inside there was a big article about Bill Rodgers. Suzie showed me the picture and asked me if I knew him and I replied, “That’s Bill Rogers, he ran the 1975 Boston Marathon in 2:09:55.” She looked at me puzzled. How did I know that? I can’t even remember where I put my keys.

This was the Runner’s World tribute to the mystical Boston Marathon and I read every word. How to train for it, how to qualify, how to run it’s rolling hills and of course the big article on Boston Billy. He is a delightfully goofy ambassador for running. As the Beach Boys might say, “he’s a real cool head, he’s making real good bread.”

For example: in his 1975 Boston win Bill stopped five times, four times for water and once to tie his shoes. Also this: after a big race he would dip a fork into a jar of peanut butter and then swoop it in some bacon bits for a post-race recharge. “The only man who has ever run 150 miles a week and still had high cholesterol,” said one of his friends.

The magazine went in the recycling bin and I didn’t think about it much after that. Then a year later I met a Greg Albrecht, a running and triathlete coach. We were having coffee and discussing possibly working together. Rather suddenly he asked me, “what is your goal?” Which was a great question because though I was a runner, at that point I’d never really had a goal. But to my surprise, I blurted out, “I want to run the Boston Marathon.”

Which at the time sounded as absurd as saying, “I want to be a United States Senator.” I had never run more than 13 miles. Making a puppet of Bill Rogers when you are a little kid is sweet and all but the Boston Qualifying process is not an essay contest. To get to Boston you have to qualify by running another marathon under a set time. And due to the growing interest by people just like me and a fixed number of entrants, the standards were getting tougher and tougher.

“OK,” my soon-to-be-coach said, “You are on. We’ll get you to Boston.”

And so we did: On Monday I’m going to run the Boston Marathon. I’m going to join 25,000 other runners for the start in Hopkinton; I’m going to speed past the screaming co-eds at Wellsley; I hope to climb heartbreak hill at mile 20; and if things go well I’ll cross the finish line just like Boston Billy did in 1975. I won’t be crossing in 2:09:55 but I aim to finish the distance and get the medal and soak in the giant happening that is Boston.

You can follow along with text messages at some of the key milestones by texting the word “RUNNER” to 345678. It will ask you for my race number which is 9601. If you are on the course I’ll be the guy in the Twins hat with the giant grin on my face.

UPDATE: as everyone knows by now the marathon was marred by a horrible bombing that killed three spectators and injured nearly 200 others. It was a horrifying conclusion to a nearly perfect weekend. As it relates to this essay, I got to meet Bill Rodgers who was amazingly gracious (as was the rest of Boston). Suzie and I had a wonderful time until we heard the explosions from our hotel room, just half an hour after I finished. [I wrote a piece for the Star Tribune that reflects on the kindness the city of Boston and our experience at the marathon.] (https://www.startribune.com/the-boston-marathon-experience-that-i-ll-remember/203496531/) For the record I include a picture of me and Boston Billy (note I’m holding my phone with a picture of the puppet–he was delighted to learn about it); and Suzie and I smiling at the finish line the day before the race. We keep the victims in our thoughts and prayers and are both grateful for being safe and proud to participate in what was an amazing event.

Reading vacation

First Marathon

New website rolling out tonight which includes this section on the Superteam. Intention is to make it easier to post little tidbits about life with the team: Maddie, Jake, Suz and Jim. Had the thought today when Maddie insisted that her dance teacher’s name was: “Mrs. Pencil.”

Could be.