On April 11, 2005 Doug Schiller started a consecutive
running streak running every day without a missed
day and is still continuing. “The next five
years will be a challenge” When I moved to
Florida in January 2005 I found that long distant
running including half marathons and marathon would
be now a thing of the past. Recent surgery and
the heat of Florida left me without the endurance
to run and complete long distant races. My goal
of 50 marathons was cut short at 48. This included
dozens of New York and Boston’s. So the Streak
is now my Marathon!
Running became an obsession due to my son Dane
who called his dad in the spring of 1978 from
his Texas residence and said “Dad I am
in training for the Austin Marathon” A
marathon what is a marathon? He replied that’s
26 miles. This skin and bones was going to run
26 miles, go on? He trained diligently every
day. My two children during those years visited
their dad in Long Island for the summer. Dad
gave up dating women and became a propriety father
devoting every living minute with em’.
Everyday Dane would go out and run 4 miles. Finally ‘macho
dad’ said well maybe I will try to run
with him “a bonding thing”. So I
laced my tennis shoes and prepared for the run
with the kid! He stated that you need running
shoes! No the tennis shoes will do! After leaving
the parking lot at the condo I sat on a curb
and told Dane to run ahead and I will catch him
on the return. So much for macho dad!
Those days as a department store buyer in the
Bronx NY my boss had a relationship with Corner
Distributors (A mafia operation that also stocked
sporting goods). I picked up a pair of Adidas
SL-72 running shoes (still have em). So my running
career began. Every day we ran for at least two
miles and could not get up this particular hill,
until one day it happened, that evening we picked
up some applications for a 7.2 miler taking place
in Setauket LI, on day prior to his return to
Texas. Also that evening we attended a movie
and watched a trailer that described the ‘Falmouth
7.1’ road race. They had runners of all
ages and abilities. That moment I decided that
this sport was for me. (I still run the Falmouth,
MA race every year).
We trained everyday day for the Setauket 7.2
race. The week prior to the event I received
a call from my Tennis partner that her attractive
single sister from Pennsylvania was visiting
and how about a blind date. Well it was the night
prior to race. I promised the kids that I would
be back prior to midnight and not to drink! So
off to the 2000 Disco and Pat was beautiful.
After drinking wine spritzers for three hours
I turned to Pat “I have to leave” She
never understood my rational! When I got home
the kids were sitting in their bed with their
arms folded. “Where were you?” This
was a role reversal in its truest form.
Well we awoke to a raging rain storm including
a sighting of a tornado in Plainview LI, This
never happens in Long Island. So I said well
it is raining so let’s go back to sleep.
My son said no way dad they run in any condition.
Shit! So I laced my running shoe and off to the
_ _ _ _ en race.It was raining so hard that they
did not issue running bibs (paper those days)
and magic marketed your number on your arm. The
politicians dispensed with their speeches and
the race began. At certain points the rain was
so hard that it was difficult staying on your
feet. At the 5 mile marker I could barely get
up a hill. I told Dane to go ahead and I will
catch up later. He said no dad we are doing this
together. At the top of the hill there was an
aging couple clapping and encouraging ‘come
on you can do it’ well we kept going and
way ahead there was three girls in sight! “Let’s
catch em Dane said” Well we caught them
just prior to the finish chute. We finished arm
in arm together. I broke down and macho dad cried.
This was the first event that I had ever completed
with my son! What an experience. He left for
Texas the next day and found a 10K to run the
next weekend and finished that in 41:14. That
started my running career for good. I ran the
Long Island Marathon later that year.
After that we agreed to run the 1981 NYC Marathon
together and we would commence a training program
in our own domiciles. Eight weeks prior to the
marathon my ex wife (the bitch) stated to Dane
that he was not going to NY. So he ceased his
training. Two weeks prior she relented and told
Dane that he could go. He was not in marathon
shape however his tenacity was there. I had a
seeded blue number and his red number for first
time marathoners and the women. He insisted running
with the women and in the back of the pack. I
later noticed through Brooklyn that his feet
were landing flat footed and noted that there
was going to be trouble ahead! Sure enough at
the 12 mile mark he stopped at a first aid and
had his foot wrapped. He persevered and entering
in Central Park I told him to perk up the photographers
was up ahead. After the photographers it was
downhill (actually up hill) his eyes were rolling
up in his head. A runner with his family was
leaving the park and came up and took one of
Dane’s arms and I took the other until
we reached 59th Street when another runner with
a strange accent took over carrying Danes other
arm. We struggled until 100’ feet before
the finish. He then broke free and ran the balance
on his own through the chute and proceeded to
collapse. After recovering in the Medical tent
his first words “What am I going to tell
my friends back in Texas” ‘No problem,
you just stepped in a NYC pothole.’
The next day, back in my office I received a
call from a vendor who I did business with and
he stated “Well I found your name in the
NY Daily News Marathon finisher list and you
were in the next of the last column of finishers.
Then he turned the phone over to a person that
had the same strange accent as the person who
help us to the finish the day before. He was
from South Africa and was an ultra marathoner.
However he was injured and his doctor had advised
him not to run the NYC Marathon when he was visiting
on his business trip. He elected not to heed
his doctor’s orders, stuffed cotton balls
in his shoes and deiced to run the race. There
is a custom in South Africa that when you come
upon a runner in difficulty you sacrifice your
own run and render assistance. He had run the
75 mile Comrades Marathon many times in South
Africa and that was the custom. What a coincidence!
Since then I have run countless races to many
to elaborate. The best were the Pikes Peak Ultra,
Boston 100th (at that race I had run 10% of the
Boston’s) and Grandmas with my PR of 3:09.
My son in later years discovered that one leg
was slightly longer than the other which ultimately
curved his spine. He now has two steel rods in
his back therefore ending his running career.
So now he enjoys kayaking, biking (centuries),
and mountain climbing. Like his dad he pushes
his limits. His last climbing experience was
Extupla in Ecuador at 22,500 feet.
All that is now in the past and Mother Nature
is now pushing against me instead of pushing
my big behind. Running is still an obsession!
Enjoying it, an effort, however, still enjoying
running. |
