Davis qualifies for Boston Marathon
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
He started running as a hobby and a way to stay in shape, and now Hillsboro resident Bruce T. Davis has accomplished what very few people, especially in Highland County, have accomplished: qualifying for the 114th Boston Marathon.
Davis qualified in October at a marathon in Columbus with a time of 3:44.00, and in his age bracket he had to run under 3:45.00.
"It felt good to know I qualified for the race," Davis said. "Anytime you run a marathon, the goal is to qualify for Boston. I started running marathons for fun to see if I could do it, then I wanted to see if I could qualify for Boston."
Saying it is a good feeling to reach one of the top marathons, Davis first began to run for the simple fact to lose weight five years ago.
Some of the marathons Davis ran were in Cincinnati (The Flying Pig), Cleveland and Columbus.
"After I started running for fun and to get into shape, I needed to set a goal. So, I started training, and as I trained harder I got better and I started to have more fun with it."
With the marathon taking place on Monday, April 19 during Patriot Day in Boston, Davis said he had just one goal for the event.
"I want to finish the race, that is it," he said. "I want to make a good showing."
To reach this point, Davis began a training regimen where he ran different amounts each day, depending on what the workout called for.
"I just run a lot. I run with Cheryl Knippen and she makes me run and I make her run," Davis said. "I went onto a web site and found a workout I liked and followed the stages of it. But the big thing is just a lot of hard training."
Davis uses different routes, depending on the distance he needs to run each day. He stated he usually starts at the YMCA.
"If it is cold like it was a couple weeks ago, I will run on a treadmill. I will run everyday, but I am a wimp and not running in 20 inches of snow," Davis said.
But just to make it to one of the top marathons is special to Davis.
"Not a lot of people qualify for it. Not like in Chicago or other marathons where you pay a fee and are in it, so to actually qualify for it makes it special," he said. "Only 25,000 people get to run in it, so to be one of the limited few to run at Boston is neat."
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