Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 15

That's how naive I was. "
He says his legs hurt so bad after
that first distance run that it was
a week before he could run again.
Undaunted, he ran on, quickly moving
up to 50-mile weeks. He ran his first
10K road race on St. Patrick's Day.
" That kind of got me hooked and I
started running 10Ks, " Rod says. " I
kept getting faster and faster. "
After just a little more than a year
of running he was ready for a marathon,
all 26.2 miles of it. He finished
the 1981 Macy's Marathon in Kansas
City in eighth place with a time of 2
hours, 35 minutes. " I thought that was
pretty good for a guy who didn't know
anything about distance running to
do that on my own with no coaching, "
Rod says. His time was good enough
to qualify for a cherished spot in the
Boston Marathon in 1982. He wasn't
pleased with his results there despite
finishing in 2 hours and 38 minutes,
but chalked it up to the heat and running
with a stress fracture in his leg.
Rod thought he had hung up his
spikes after graduating from high
school in 1979. He worked construction
for three years, but decided to go
to college when work slowed. A cousin
ran for what was then called Central
Missouri State University and she
helped Rod land a spot on the crosscountry
and track teams. Ironically,
his coach, Bob Busby, won the first
marathon Rod competed in.
He describes himself as an average
college athlete. Rod ran the 2 mile
and 10K on the oval. He found crosscountry
frustrating, especially one
race he says took place in a freshly
harvested cornfield that was so muddy
he lost a shoe. But he continued to
excel at marathons in the off season.
In 1983 he again ran the Macy's
marathon right after the cross-country
team returned from the NCAA Division
II regional meet in Wisconsin. " We
didn't qualify for nationals, " Rod says.
" My season was over, so I decided to
go do it. "
A day after running a
hard college 10K, Rod ran
his fastest marathon on just
an hour and a half of sleep,
finishing the race in 2 hours,
29 minutes and 50 seconds.
A teammate introduced Rod
to his wife, Mona, who also is
a graduate of Central Missouri. The
two have been married 38 years.
Over the years Rod has run 42
marathons. Most have been in Kansas
City and St. Louis, though he's also
competed in the Chicago Marathon
and has twice run in the Black Hills of
South Dakota.
One year he ran the Kansas City
Marathon and two weeks later ran the
St. Louis Marathon. " I figured that
since I was already trained for the first
marathon, I could just rest between
the two and treat the first race as sort
of a training run. I think I ran 10 or
15 seconds faster on the second one. "
One of the toughest marathons for
Rod came in Kansas City thanks to
the ever-changing Missouri weather.
The temperature was an ideal 50
degrees as the race began, and Rod
was running in shorts and a singlet.
As the race progressed the temperature
dropped. Rain fell, soaking the
runners. Then it turned to snow.
Over the years, Rod has slowed but
never stopped running. At one point
he went eight years without missing
a single day of running. His current
streak is close to three years.
That means making sacrifices,
including running outdoors in all
kinds of weather, running while sick
and even running just after midnight
to ensure a workout for the day. His
minimum daily distance is 2 miles.
Keeping the latest streak going is
easier for him now that he is retired
as an accountant for the University
of Central Missouri. You can find him
hitting the roads around Warrensburg
daily. In bad weather he runs on the
UCM indoor track.
Warrensburg
He says running has been good for
him, despite suffering five stress fractures,
a torn meniscus and a painful
Achilles tendon that probably needs
surgery. The many miles helped him
overcome exercise-induced asthma, a
condition that has greatly improved
due to his hard workouts.
" I'm still not sure to this day why
I started distance running, " Rod
admits. " I wish I knew. Usually,
you would know those kinds
of things. I hate to use the
'Forrest Gump' reference,
but I think I just went out
and started running. And I
enjoyed it. "
42
5
MARATHONS
RUN
STRESS
FRACTURES
2
HOURS,
29
50
MINUTES,
SECONDS
FASTEST
MARATHON
8
YEARS WITHOUT
MISSING A DAY
RUNNING
JANUARY 2024 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 15
http://www.RURALMISSOURI.COOP
Rural Missouri - January 2024

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