Veterans Day - Running All the Way

I'm taking a break from marathon chatter to honor the men and women who have served in the American Armed forces.  Two of my great uncles served during World War II, one in Germany and one in the Philippines.  Our family was blessed that they both came home unharmed.

Last week I read "Running All the Way: A Marine, a Runner, a Journey through Life" by Lawrence Dickerson. It is "a remarkable memoir of Larry Dickerson growing up in West Virginia, serving in the U. S. Marine Corps, graduating from Northwestern University and working 40 years in corporate management, all the while running. Throughout a life at full throttle, Larry, now in his 80’s, has run."

This was a wonderful read!   Born in 1932, a child of the Great Depression, Mr. Dickerson learned early on that anything he wanted would require hard work.  The early chapters tell of his childhood, chickens that he named Batman, Superman and Green Hornet, and typical escapades of a growing boy.  About his mother, he wrote, "She believed in corporal punishment and I believed in evasion of corporal punishment."

While in high school, he knew he wanted to go to college.  His family could not afford it, so he enlisted in the Marine Corp.  Twenty five days after enlisting, the North Korean People's Army crossed the 38th parallel in an act of war and the United States would be sending troops to Korea.  The book details his time in the service and one thing he said really stuck with me, "A combat veteran will never again recognize a non-life-threatening event as 'critical.'  Business problems, test results or athletic victories don't qualify.  He or she will face day-to-day circumstances with a serenity most won't grasp."

Mr. Dickerson has run every distance, including the Boston Marathon in 3:21:33 at age 53.  He ran a 20:22 5k in his 60s.  The Parkersburg Half Marathon in August 2001 was his 1,000th race.  After counting the number of races he had done, he realized he had run in 20 states and that's when he decided to run in all 50 states.

One of the things that really inspired me was how hard he worked to run races in clustered states.  By that time he was retired, but he continued to live frugally, running as many as 3 races in 4 days to keep costs down.  He was in his late 70s and wrote of running a 5k in a "slow thirty minutes."  He went on to run a 5k on Oahu, winning the 80+ age group in 29:44!

This is a great read for runners and non-runners alike.