The Marathon Years

Between 1996 and 2006, Chas and Brooks ran four marathons together:

• NYC 1996
• Boston 1998
• Cape Cod 2002
• Maine (Portland) 2006

Chas also ran the Paris Marathon in April 2010 and Brooks did Marine Corps (DC) 2000 and Hartford 2004.  Here is a brief overview of the joint experiences coupled with an update from Chas.  Brooks' comments are in italics.

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your concern.  I'm doing fine.  I'm running and biking.  I won't be doing the iron tri and am rather disappointed about that, but I will tri and I will be there by Brooks' side when he swims and bikes and runs his way from Bock's lake to Chapin steps.

Two things have been motivators for me as I try my best to stay healthy and fit.  One is a daily record of the workouts I do and the other is an event on the calendar.  I started keeping track of my workouts as a New Year's resolution in 1995 and the first event I put on my calendar was the LL Bean 10K on July 4th of that year.  Since then, Brooks has often been the person that puts things on my calendar.  And he did just that during the winter of 1996 when he called to tell me that he wanted to run the New York City Marathon.

Brooks, Chas and Scott Smith after 1996 NYC Marathon

The initial thought when training for our first marathon was that this would be a one time deal.  Who needs to do this more than once, right?  As I tried to fall asleep the night before the race, I remember thinking "if I survive this, I could see trying to do it again."  There was this question of what happens to your body once you go past 20 miles (the longest training distance we had done)?  The answer is nothing particularly fun, but that which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?

We both survived just fine and finished in 4:18 along with Scotty Smith.  It should be noted that Tim and Karen Bock both ran that year and were wonderful hosts in NYC that memorable weekend.

Two years later we were running the Boston Marathon.  Brooks is wearing the same shirt .  I think we should make a poly version of the shirt for him to wear on tri day. (I don't think I moved away from cotton until the early 2000s- shirt was made as a fundraiser for Williams Women's Crew, I believe).  The tall guy in the middle is my brother Pete. Brooks will have to help us out with the one guy in the picture who looks like a runner (Kevin Moon, a George School colleague, who trained with me and ran as a bandit that day- will do write up on Kevin when we chronicle runnin buddies).  Who is that adorable little boy hugging his papa?  (Taylor Foehl, age 5!)

Taylor, Brooks, Kevin Moon, Pete and Chas Foehl

 Chas is too modest to point out that he ran a marathon PR in Boston.  He had a serious training partner who pushed him hard culminating in a 3:25 finish.  My goal was to break 4 hours and finished in 3:59:57.  Looked at my watch at mile 25 and realized I needed to run a 7:15 last mile to break four hours and just made it.


Chas and Pete in Wellesley- halfway home!

It wasn't until 2002 that we got together for another marathon.  This time in Falmouth, MA in the Cape Cod Marathon.  My youngest brother Dave joined in the fun.

Brooks, Dave (Chas' brother) and Chas

Cape Cod was the most enjoyable of the "small" marathons I ran.  Loved every aspect of it- probably because we had lots of family and friends surrounding us.  Dave Paulsen was with the three of us all the way and was a great Williamstown training partner that round along with Tom Kaegi who ran about 20 minutes faster than our 3:55 that day.

Brooks and Chas Mile 25 of Maine Marathon, Portland, ME October 2006

It was time for us to hit the road together again and doing it in Chas' hometown of Portland, ME seemed the right way to go.  Starting line was less than a mile from Chas and Sara's house and they were wonderful hosts all weekend.  Chas and I finished in 3:53- my sixth marathon, his fourth. 

I was feeling like it was time for the next challenge and it was a discussion for Chas and I to have together.  The answer: triathlons.  We could have started with sprints, or maybe Olympic distance, but we decided to go with the half-iron.  We'll chronicle the (on-going) triathlon years soon.