Taking It All In Stride

On the third Monday in April, you’ll find Charles King, co-owner of the Garland C. Norris Co., a wholesaler in Raleigh N.C., in a pack of about 20,000 people in Boston — as a runner in the famous 26.1-mile Boston Marathon.

Charles has been running off and on throughout his life — including a harrowing run with the bulls in Spain in the 1970s. “I was in Pamplona and just decided to run with the bulls,” said Charles.

Unlike running with the bulls, you don’t just show up in Boston and run. One has to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Sidelined by back surgery for a couple of years, Charles says the reason he wanted to do the marathon was to improve his running speed. He also wanted to quit smoking. And, after attending a high school reunion, he said, “At the next reunion I need to be in better shape.”

Mark Callahan of Callico Distributors, Taunton, Mass., inspired Charles to participate in the Boston race. “Mark has been running in the Boston Marathon for years,” Charles said. “We would talk about it, and I told him that I could do [the marathon], but I didn’t want to qualify. Mark said he could get me in without qualifying.”

Athletes must participate in other races and meet designated time standards that are determined by their age group. There was another way to enter the race, at least when Charles started participating five years ago.

“When I called Mark Callahan and told him I was ready to run the marathon, he told me to contact a guy with the Diabetes Foundation in New York.” Charles said. “I received some information in the mail, and the next thing I knew, I was signing off on some paperwork that said if I didn’t raise $3,000 for Team Diabetes, the money would come out of my own pocket. I didn’t realize you could get in by raising money and not qualifying in another race. So that’s how I got in the first time.”

Very worried about raising the $3,000, Charles says he wrote a lot of letters and learned about diabetes. He raised about $8,000.

While he was happy to find himself running in the marathon through his fundraising efforts, the next year he decided to qualify. Unfortunately, he missed qualifying for the next Boston Marathon by just five minutes.

“I stewed over that for two months,” Charles said. “I didn’t want to have to run another race to qualify.”

As it turns out, he was in luck: Boston Marathon officials sent a communique saying that the qualifying times were increased for certain age groups. According to Charles, “They added five minutes to my age group, and I qualified by 12 seconds. I thought, ‘This must be fate,’ because I wanted people to see that I could qualify for the race legitimately.”

Charles keeps his running hobby in perspective. “As soon as the marathon is over, I go into my off-season for about eight months, running about 10 miles per week. I usually train for four months before the Boston Marathon by running 25 to 35 miles per week,” said Charles.

Charles’ best finishing time in the Boston Marathon was 3 hours and 23 minutes in 2005, well under the minimum qualifying requirement for his age group. Not bad for a guy recovering from back surgery who — like many of us — decided he wanted to be in good shape for a high school reunion.

Gretchen Roufs, an 18-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns a marketing and public relations company in San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “freetime,” contact her at GretchenRoufs@aol.com.