In this episode we cover…
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Running marathons was secondary to Tony. He shares he started
running and walking 3 miles a day after learning he was
pre-diabetic and that exercise might help. He’s kept his commitment
to 3 miles a day throughout his life.[29:15]
-
Tony has run 131 marathons. He shares that it’s easy for people’s
initial reaction to be in awe, but he reminds us that it took him
40 years. We so often look at the snapshot but we don't look at
either what goes behind the scenes or how long it took.
[07:20]
-
His my mother introduced Tony and his brother to collecting postage
stamps, which sparked a love of travel.“Our
mission was
to see the world, it was to get out of the project, was to get out
of the ghetto and literally to travel to see the entire
world.”
[29:30]
-
Music is part of Tony’s running. He shares that with every marathon
he picks a theme song in his head and has songs associated with all
the marathons.
“At
the Hartford, Connecticut Marathon we had 5.5 inches of rain during
the race. I found myself singing the lyrics to Parliament’s Aqua
Boogie funk song…And so he talks about dancing underwater without
getting wet. And I visualized myself running this marathon and the
raindrops were partying.”[14:23]
-
Tony says there’s something in his mind about not wanting to run
the perfect race. So during the Dallas White Rock Marathon he had a
mile and a half left when he realized he hadn’t stopped to walk the
entire race. So, he stopped and walked 25 yards then he picked it
back up.
[16:55]
-
When Tony started running marathons, social media wasn’t around so
there was no way of finding out how to run a marathon. During his
quest for information, he discovered
Ted Corbitt
and his accomplishments. After learning Ted Corbitt was Black, Tony
decided to find a way to recognize the accomplishments of Black
distance runners so he co-founded the National Black Distance
Running Fall of Fame in 2013. Marilyn Bevans and Ted Cobitt were
the first to be inducted.
(Bevans
was
recently interviewed an episode of Running
Realized)
[21:40]
-
Ted Corbitt is actually the person who came up with the concept of
the five borough race in New York City. He was also one of the
first presidents of the New York Road Runners Club, as well as for
the Road Runners Club of America. He was the first Black runner on
the Olympic marathon team in 1952, and was an ultra runner. He is
the person that they generally call the father of distance running
in the U. S.
[21:40]
-
National Black Marathoners Association is working to plant seeds to
improve distance running for Blacks throughout the country
including scholarships and mentoring One other project is
getting Ted Corbitt on a national stamp. You join in supporting
this initiative on
here.
[59:50]
-
Tony shares that he hopes the pandemic is giving people an
opportunity to reflect on why they run. Are they running for the
medals? Are they running for their health? Are they running to
relieve stress?
-
“I like to say one of the things that running taught me was to
go through to a self-analysis to look at my weak points. So
again looking at what is a real or perceived weakness and then
doing something to prove that this is indeed
a strength."
Resources + People Mentioned
Learn more about
Tony
Ted Corbitt Black Heritage US Postage Stamp Project
National Black
Marathoners Association
Marilyn
Bevans interview on Running Realized
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