July 13, 2025

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Well, this is a strange and unique feeling for me.  The NYC marathon is 16 weeks away and today would be the start of my marathon training season.

But I’m not training for marathons any longer.  

My most recent marathon last January was my last marathon.  

As I completed the Dopey Challenge in Walt Disney World in January, I determined that my marathon days were over.  My reasons for retiring from marathoning are legion.  I’ll touch on some of them below, but I have written a lot about that on these pages before.

The following are some of my scattered thoughts as I break away from the 16-week training period for the NYC – a ritual I followed for the better part of a quarter-century:

• For a good bit of time after I decided to stop running marathons, I felt like a quitter.  It’s a strange and unique feeling to stop doing something that has been part of one’s life for so long. At times I also felt weak. I’m not weak.  And I’m not a quitter.  What’s also true is that I am no longer a young man, and while I’m in good shape, I knew that I had pushed my body in regard to marathoning as far as it could go, and even a bit beyond that.

• I actually was done with marathons after my 24^th race in Pittsburgh in 2023.  That was a challenging and very difficult course. I was certain I was done. But, after that marathon, I pushed through two more New Yorks and then the Dopey Challenge.  I had been thinking about the Dopey Challenge for more than a decade and would have regretted never attempting it (or actually doing it).  I needed to run that series of races.  In order to be able to do that, I pushed my very tired body well beyond what was reasonable. The process of retiring from marathoning didn’t take place over night, it was a long time in coming.

• I loved marathoning, but I am now (mostly) very much at peace with stopping.  I thought I would be feeling the desire to push forward again.  I don’t.  For a long time, the NYC Marathon was part of who I was.  In a way it still is and always will be, but all good things come to an end.  I do not need to struggle on those streets any longer. And, even though I am not running the race, I did New York 12 times, and those twelve races will always be part of who I am.  I have great memories that will be with me forever.

• The other day I saw a few friends as I was walking in the neighborhood.  They brought up my running and one made the comment that I am an amazingly strong athlete.  I forget the exact words, but it was something like, “Paul is indestructible.”  I couldn’t bring myself to say in that conversation that I no longer run marathons.

• Even though I won’t be running the marathon, I am ramping up my miles once again.  I just completed my first 20-mile week since the Dopey.  I am building up my miles because my son Alex will be running the NYC this fall, and I plan to train with him as often as I can.  regret that I will never a marathon with Alex.  (This will be his first.)  But I will be his coach and his training partner for a bunch of his long runs.  I am looking forward to serving as his running buddy as often as I can. This year, he gets all the glory that new York City gives.

• I pray as I run.  During each mile I recite the Lord’s Prayer and some passages from the 23rd Psalm.  During my final marathon, as I asked God for the strength to finish. (I ask that a lot during marathons.) In my prayers, I also promised that that race would be my last marathon.  I won’t go back on that promise. As it says in Ecclesiastes 5:4, “Keep all the promises you make to him.”  I intend to.  

• The fact that I am not in “training mode” has allowed me to enjoy my runs.  I am not on a any schedule or routine. I run when I want for as far as I want.  I am at the point where I want to enjoy the sport. I always found joy in marathoning training, but running for pleasure and training are not the same things. At all. It’s nice to not be spending the next four months thinking about the big race coming up.

• Without hard and fast mileage goals to attain, I find myself backing off a lot on some runs.  I no longer have to force myself through difficult patches.  I think that’s a good thing.

• I still play competitive baseball as a pitcher.  I’m well into the wrong half of my fifties. I play in a 35-year-old plus league.  Being competitive on this level has helped me walk away from running marathons without any regrets.  I loved being a marathoner.  I love, even more, being a pitcher on a great baseball team with a fantastic group of teammates (including my son Ethan).  

• I didn’t always like how my body felt when I was pushing it to the limit and beyond.  And then well beyond that.  And further still.  I loved the feeling of accomplishment when a hard workout, a long run, or the marathon itself was over, but I didn’t always love the toll it took on me (even if I didn’t always admit it). I don’t need to feel that way any longer.

• I have the most wonderful baby grandchildren in the whole world.  I think of them a lot as I run.  I want to enjoy the next 30+ years watching them grow up – and hopefully even running with them one day.  In order to be around for them, and other grandchildren to one day come, I’m not willing, any longer, to push my body well past its breaking point.  

• When I was a dad of growing boys, I was indestructible.  I was Superman.  Nothing could hurt me. Knock me down, and I’d get up harder and stronger.  Something changed when I became a Grandpa.  My son Ryan, who is now a daddy, is now Superman.  I’m the older guy.  I don’t always feel so invincible any longer.  I am glad to pass that kind of feeling of strength on to my sons. I am still strong, but I’m not Superman.

• While I run most days, I have not gone back to running on the treadmill and I am not eager to.  I used to run ridiculous amounts of miles on my treadmill.  A three-hour treadmill workout to prepare for a marathon was nothing out of the ordinary for me.  But, in order to get to that point, I had to go to a different place in my head.  I had to welcome pain and suffering.  I had to embrace the torture and the tedious nature of running int the same spot for long long periods of time.  I had find something deep inside to push past all reasonable boundaries.  As I ran on the TM, I was always looking at my distance and pace and always trying to go faster, harder, and farther.  Right now, I have no desire to experience that kind of purposeful misery.  As such, the treadmill sits empty.

• I had a dream the other night that I was running another marathon.  I was at about the 16-mile mark and I was absolutely miserable.  I kept saying in the dream, “I don’t want this any longer.”  I couldn’t understand why I was in a marathon, but since I was in the race, I knew I couldn’t quit.  Decades of marathon running sticks with a person.  I suspect I’ll always be running some races in my dreams…

• I am very proud of the fact that I ran 27 marathons including 1 Goofy Challenge and 1 Dopey Challenge.  Before I started, I never thought I could run even one marathon.  I’m also proud of the fact that I ran six marathons after having Achilles surgery.  Contentment comes when a person can look back on what they accomplished with satisfaction.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7)