QCC Q&A at GLRR Meeting

L to R: Gerard, Scott, Dave, Brian, Tom, Steve
Photo Courtesy of Jimmy Shelton

GLRR is proud to have seven members of the QCC in our ranks. What is the QCC? The Quarter Century Club is a group of people who have run 25 (or more) consecutive Boston Marathons. An impressive achievement. They are Gerard Ottaviano (32), Jack Pierce (31), Scott Graham (29), Dave Audet (28),  Brian Crane (27), Tom Peters (26), and Stavros Kanaracus (26).  Six of the seven were able to make it to last month's GLRR meeting for a Q&A session.  While we don't have a full transcript of the session, Scott Graham shared his answers with us ahead of time.

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Scotty Graham
Photo courtesy of Jimmy Shelton

First of all this is my 29th consecutive official Boston marathon. I say that because it would be my 30th but I ran the first one as a bandit, in 3:19. Doesn’t count.

Toughest Boston? Good question. In all of them, there was at least one point where I had some self doubts. However, the bandit year was the toughest. I didn’t have any idea what I was getting myself into. I approached the race like I was running a 10K, when the gun was fired, just GO!!! I think the longest run I had done to that point was a half marathon. So I was tooling along thinking “what’s the big deal, this is easy”. Well, things started changing around mile 16. I’m thinking who put this flipping hill here. The hills aren’t supposed to start until mile 17.5 at the firehouse. I slowed then slowed some more. I was cramping and I was dehydrated. I started walking, limping, getting sick, and had goose bumps. I was going hypothermic. Did I stop? NFW. I finished. I made my way down Boylston Street towards the common. At some point I met up with my wife and mother. I was sitting in the middle of the road and I was broken. I was mentally and physically a mess. In tears I told my wife and mother to NEVER LET ME DO SOMETHING THAT STUPID TO MY BODY AGAIN. After a bit they help me up and we started walking towards Comm. Ave. We got about a ¼ mile up the road when my wife says, “We’re parked over by the Lenox hotel” then it hits me… that the hotel is on the other side of the marathon course. I once again sit in the middle of the road and begin crying and yelling “HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID? I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU TWO”. They were saints putting up with me that day.

Worse Boston? Had to be 2004. It was HOT. I remember sweating in the corals. The race took off and at the mile mark I was sweating really bad. By mile 3 I was walking. WTF! I was taking all the water I could find. Nothing was cooling me down. I was a mess. I hit the firehouse corner and I realized I needed to use one of the porta johns. I get in and do my business and I’m thinking “maybe I should just stop” NFW! I get out and there is a medical tent right next door. I decided I needed some electrolytes. I ask one of the medical people for some Gatorade, but not the lemon lime crap. She invited me to come into the tent. “NO WAY”, I said. I know how this game works. I go in there, you declare me physically unable to continue and pull my number. I held my ground and was able to get some orange Gatorade. With 1 mile to go, Roger Nasaka pulled up aside of me. I looked at him and was very surprised; he’s a 2:30 guy. I said to him “what the hell are you doing back here” he replied “Same thing as you Scotty, just trying to survive”. We ran together that last mile urging each other on. We ran the entire length of Boylston Street using steps that couldn’t have been much longer than 6 inches long. We crossed together and both of us puked. Sweet!! We were finished. I made my way over to the GLRR hotel rooms and found out that lots of people blew up. I showered then sat on a bed. I was once again a mess. This time though my stomach was not happy with me. For the next 3 hours I puked into a hotel trash barrel, while Bill Rozen watched and laughed. Nice friend.

Best Boston? It was 1990 for sure. It was my PR year of course. I was setting PR’s at 5-miles, 10K, 10-miles, 13.1-miles. I was on fire. I HIT mile 16 and I was spent. NOOOO! I started to walk, then run, then walk, then run. You get the idea. I did this until mile 21. Then someone in the crowd handed me a drink. It was loaded with sugar. It revived me and I was flying once again. I averaged 5:30 per mile for the last 5 miles. I was passing loads of people like they were standing still. Once in the finish area I bumped into Roger Nasaka. He was sitting on a curb eating a yogurt. He had run a 2:30-something as usual. I was on Cloud-9. I ran back to the GLRR hotel and put on a great celebration, if you know what I mean.

Most memorable moment (or finish)? I’ve seen lots of things during the race. One thing that makes me laugh some times is the coverage we get from the Media. I’ve been highlighted 5 or 6 times over the years with articles or pictures in the Lowell Sun and other news outlets. One year I was running the race and I saw a Lowell Sun photographer up ahead. He was lining up for a shot, but doesn’t get it. He proceeds to get his equipment together and sprinted down the road to try and get another shot. Now this guy was a bit over weight and had about 5 cameras slung over his shoulders. I started laughing, but he got the shot. The picture made the front page of the sports section. I was getting messages from friends saying that the race must have been good because of my smiling expression in the picture. Another time a bunch of us took a walk from Hopkinton HS to the Common before the race. A radio station was there doing interviews. Will Mason decided it was time to play with them. He bummed a cigarette from some guy and went up to get interviewed, while smoking the cigarette! We were rolling on the ground laughing.

Favorite running Buddy? I don’t have a favorite. That’s like asking me which is your favorite child. I have many running friends. I’ve learned over the years that the race is very anticlimactic. What I really enjoy is the time spent with people on the long runs. GLRR makes these training runs on the course very easy. But every year there are always a couple new people who train with us and we get a chance to get to know them. For the last couple of years I’ve spent more waking hours with Pete Floss and David Katz than I have with my wife. We know everything about each other, maybe TOO MUCH INFORMATION some times. Last year I got to know Melissa Scott and Susan Bourque from the training runs on the course. Both of them are really tough cookies. In addition, I’ve spend a lot of hours with Jill Trotter on the course. But be careful running with her. I know of at least two people who have gone crashing to the ground running along side of her. Don’t know if she was at fault, I’m just saying. Years ago the GLRR racing team used to get together at each other’s houses for the 12 week buildup to the race. The host would lay out a course, leave drinks out on the course and then throw a low key party back at their house after the run. Lets just say that doing anything later on in the day was not possible.

What drove you to 25 in a row? It just kind of happened. I never started out thinking I was going to do something like that. I just got hooked. It could have been mainly because of the GLRR community. They were my friends. I l

aughed more with them than anyone else. Sure we were all very competitive with each other, but we all knew we needed each other to train for the race. Once I was up around 15 consecutive I did set a goal to make it to 25. Now that I’m at 28 my goal is 40, but, things are getting tougher. Father time waits for no one and I’m slowing down. Last year I was at the Quarter Century Club (QCC) meeting. It’s held every year on the Saturday before the race. There are about 40 active members. The guy with the most consecutive has 49, WTF. Anyway, every year they take a photo of the group. There was a guy around 25 years old mulling around watching what was going on. He started talking to me about the group and was asking what kind of times people were running now. When I told him that most of the people were up over 4 hours he kind of blurted out a smart-arse chuckle. I asked him, “What’s your qualifying time” He replied 3:03. It was my turn to blurt out a chuckle. I said to him, you see all these people here, when they first qualified they didn’t run a 3:10 or 3:05, they raced a sub 2:50. That was the qualifying time back then. Many of them have run in the 2:30’s or 2:20’s. Locally, back in their towns, they were considered exceptional runners. They were the top guys in their respective clubs. The kid’s jaw dropped. He had a new level of respect for these old farts.

Did you ever think you wouldn't make it? One thing I’ve learned is that the human spirit and determination is almost unstoppable. I’m a true believer that if you set you mind to something, and put together a plan, you will succeed. Heck for a couple of years I was only able to train for 2 weeks leading up to the race. REALLY, just 2 weeks of training! I knew what I needed to do, and what kind of a time I was going to run, and just gutted it out. It hurt like hell but I always made it. At one point it was the running joke (pun intended) on the marathon bus, “Hey Scotty, how many weeks of training this year, TWO, maybe?” Hahahaha!! Another year I was in the front row of corral 1. When the gun was fired I shot out catching the elites right away. I ran the first mile sub 5-minutes. Well you can pretty much guess how this turned out. After realizing what I had done I put the brakes on but it was too late. The damage had been done and I proceeded to limp in the next 25.2 miles.

What outrageous thing have you done to keep the streak going? I guess the 2 weeks of training thing would be it. One time I had pulled a hamstring muscle just 4 days before the race. I limped around and right before the race popped four Advils and got through the race. It wasn’t pretty but I got the job done.

What's your favorite and least favorite part of the course? There are so many great parts of the course. The parts I like the most aren’t always the fast parts. They are the ones that make me smile or laugh out loud. I’ll try and list them in order as they appear on the course

The starting line. Standing in the corral you get the nervous energy. You know you have to say calm but you’re jumping out of your skin. Years ago they used to have F-16 jets do a fly over just after the singing of the “Star Spangle Banner”. It was a show of raw awesome power. It made you

want to leap from the starting line.

About 1.5 miles in there used to be a woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty and plaing an accordion. For some reason I always looked forward to seeing her.

Mile 2, the biker bar in Ashland. These guys (and gals) are partying their brains out and have some great thumping music going. The only problem with this area is there are always a couple of guys smoking a cigar and that just turns my stomach.

Mile 7, Framingham. They always have bands up on the roofs of the buildings and it’s a big party atmosphere.

Mile 11 in Natick is a place on the left called Graham’s Garage. I just always chuckle when I run past it.

Mile 12, Wellesley College. You can hear the Coed’s from a half mile away. You’ll always hear someone say. “What is that noise”. That my friend is 1000’s of young women SCREAMING with everything they got. Years ago they used to let the women be on both sides of the street. They would slowly but surely close in and form a gauntlet. You could only run 2 abreast. You would get slapped on the back or on the butt. The loudest cheers were for the women leaders. Your ears rang for the next mile or two. I still love that part of the course. It gives you an energy boost.

Mile 15, running down what is called Grossman’s hill into Newton lower falls. This is one of the most significant down hills in the course and for some reason if your smart it gives you a chance to relax.

Mile 21, you’re done the Newton hills and you’re now dealing with the drunken BC students. They are having a blast and will go wild if they are able to get a walking runner to start running again.

Mile 23, First sighting of the Citgo sign. You know you’re getting close once you see that sign.

Boylston Street. It’s approximately 604 yards long and it is the longest 604 yards you’ll ever run. You can see the finish line right when you take the corner but it never seems to get any closer. Enjoy your time on this road. You’ve earned the right to have some fun.

The shower back at the GLRR hotel room. A shower never felt so good.

Comparing stories with other club members. The good the bad and the ugly. There are plenty of congratulations going around but there is also a fair amount of busting of each other’s chops. A running joke I have with Peter Floss and Jill Trotter is when one of us enters the hotel room after the race, and others are already there, you get to say the 5 most dreaded words that the slower runner wants to hear “What took you so Long?”!!

As for least favorite parts of the course.

Some might think that the areas where there are no people are boring but they can be a good rest for your mind. So I tend to like them some times. But other times you might slow down.

I have to say that up until mile 16 I really like most of the course. You able

to put your body on cruse control and just coast. But at mile 16 you start climbing a sneaky hill over Rt 128. It’s not steep but it sucks. You’re exposed at this point and if there is any wind you could be getting hammered.

You’ll find a common theme here the rest of the way with “HILLS”. I don’t like them. So mile 17.5 at the firehouse gets you going but you’re going UP.

Mile 19.5 you’re climbing

Mile 20.5 you’re climbing over what is billed as the last hill or “Heart Break Hill”. Don’t worry there are more hills to come. They are all small, but just like body punches in a fight each one takes a little bit out of you.

Mile 25, the hill over the Mass Turnpike. This is small, but it sucks!

Mile 25.5, you go down under Mass Ave then have to climb back up to street level on Comm. Ave. This one is new as of a couple of years ago. I was pissed when they changed the course.

Hereford Street, yes it’s small but who puts a hill in a race with 700 yards to go?

The shower at the GLRR hotel room. Yes I know I said it was good. Until you realized you’ve chaffed and have some tender areas, and you’re skin is on fire. So you move quickly then you start cramping up. Now you’re naked, on fire, and cramping in a small hotel bathroom. Fun times!

One other thing, there are three traffic islands on the course. The most direct route (don’t let the volunteers fool you) is to go to the right of the first island, the left of the second and to the right of the third. So that’s right, left, right.