When Did I Start Running?

As I was on my walk this morning I was trying to think when I started running. As a boy I ran all the time. I ran playing street hockey, around the baseball diamond, up and down the basket ball court, in the neighborhood playing chase with my friends and around the corner when my mom called me home. The first remembrance of competition was on Memorial Day or Fourth of July. Every year at the park across the street some one would put on some running races. Wheel barrel races, three legged races and running races. This was the first remembrance of racing in a competition. We got ribbons for efforts. The next time I can remember was in junior high school. I was in 7th grade. In gym class all the students were required to run one and quarter miles race. That seems and odd distance but that is what we had to do. I ran it in 7:15 minutes. I tied with Peter Nichols for the fastest time in our grade. Not long after that the track coach approached me to go out for the track team. I agreed and that began my running career. I can vaguely remember that I ran the mile in the 5:50 minute range. I ran for the track team in 7th grade. In my 8th grade year I ran fall cross-country and track and field in the spring. I can't recall anything from that year. However I do remember that I was going be the cross-country captain in 9th grade. So I recall. At that time junior high consisted of 7th through 9th grade. I never did become captain in the 9th grade. My parents elected to send me to a vocational high school in ninth grade. I was sorely disappointed. My parent wanted me to learn a trade. I have come to see God's providence in that decision. For the past 20 years I have had a small architectural business in So Cal. The vocational school brought together kids from twelve surrounding communities. The kid's ranged from inner city, middle class suburb and kids from the sticks. It was quite a spectrum of cultural differences. The kid's that I met I can still recall in my mind to this day. We were vokies and I ran under the black and gold of the Knights.

Jimmy Henigan- One reason to run Boston

James P. "Jimmy" Henigan on his way to win the 1931 Boston Marathon.




Who was James P. Henigan. He was my grandfather. My mother's father. I never knew him as a child. I knew he won the Boston Marathon. I also was told he was in the Olympics but it was never elaborated upon. In my little bit of research that I have done I found out that he had quite a history regarding the Boston Marathon, the Olympic Games and a running career that spanned 28 years. All that transpired during his life time is lost between the headlines of some news clippings. The fact that he served in World War I, Ran through the roaring 20's, suffered through the great depression with the rest of the world and watched his son's go off to World War II are all the events that bore on his life. All through that he managed to win 700 prizes during his running career as stated in the New York Times, February 28, 1950. He was gone long before I arrived on this scene in 1962. All the fragments of his life I picked up through my youth did not amount to much. Perhaps if my parent's had lived longer and I was able to discuss mature issues with them I might have learned more about his life. All during my running career as a youth this mysterious figure loomed. I don't know what relationship my mom had with her dad, but she was my most ardent fan. She never missed a race barring her frail health. In her weakness she was always able to cheer me on as I would emerge from the woods in a cross country race. Come on Peter!!! As a youth I always thought I would run Boston. However life threw me a few curves and I veered off course. Thirty years later that desire has surfaced once again. As a boy I dreamed of being an Olympian and winning the Boston Marathon like my grandfather. Today I strive to the finish.

Full name: James P. "Jimmy" Henigan
Nickname: Smiling Jimmy
Height: 5'6" (168 cm)
Weight: 119 lbs (54 kg)
Born: April 25, 1892 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Died: February 27, 1950 in Chesterfield, South Carolina, United States
Affiliations: Dorchester Club
Country: United States
Sport: Athletics


He had ran Boston at 20 times. Here some of the recorded finishes that I could find:

1928- finished 2nd-time 2:41:01
1930- finished 8th-time 2:46:38
1931- finished 1st-time 2:46:45
1932- finished 2nd-time 2:34:32
1933- finished 18th-time 2:49:01
1935- finished 11th-time 2:48:43
1936- finished 18th-time 2:50:37

I gleaned the results from http://www.coolrunning.com/boston/results1.htm. Thanks cool running.

From the the BAA website they give short accounts of past races. Please see below:


1928
Aggressive racing by DeMar once again resulted in back-to-back victories and his sixth win as the field grew to 254 runners. DeMar took over in Natick, 10 miles into the race, with Philadelphia's Bill Wilson nagging at his heels until 18.5 miles. DeMar slowly pulled away, and crossed the line in 2:38:07, while celebrated miler Joey Ray finished third.


From the running cool Boston Marathon race result it state Jim finished second. However it appears he finished between DeMar and Ray.

1931
The Medford, Mass. milkman, Jimmy Henigan, got his long-awaited victory in his 10th Boston attempt with a time of 2:46:45. Henigan, one of the nation's leading cross-country and 10-mile runners, had finished second in 1928 but had dropped out in eight of his nine previous attempts. Hennigan dueled with Canada's Dave Komonen, before taking control on the Newton hills, and racing uncontested over the final miles.

1932
Paul de Bruyn, a 24-year-old former sailor in the German Navy, outraced defending champion Jimmy Henigan over the two-mile stretch on Beacon Street to win in 2:33:35. The 39-year-old Henigan, who crossed the line just 56 seconds behind de Bruyn, followed the record-setting pace of Canada's John McLeod. Blisters caused McLeod to falter entering Cleveland Circle, and set the stage for the de Bruyn-Henigan stretch run.

The number of participants in the Boston Marathon over the years have grown significantly. From 18 in 1897 to 25,283 in 2008. Boston has become the premier marathon event.

Time Magazine has an archived article dated Monday, Apr. 27, 1931 in which gives account of the 1931 Boston Marathon. See article here.

Jim Henigan also participated in three Olympic Games.

1924 Paris Olympics

                                                           
Results for 1924 Olympic Athletics - Individual Cross Country from Wiki

Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's team cross country from Wiki

The men's individual 10,000 meter cross country event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. It was the third and last appearance of this event. The competition was held on Saturday, July 12, 1924.


Thirty-eight runners from ten nations competed.

Due to the hot weather conditions (over 40°C) only fifteen starters were able to finish the race.

Jimmy Henigan finished 11th overall with a time of 38:00:00 flat. The USA team captured the silver. Jimmy finished fourth for the USA team behind his teammate August Fager missing the silver by just 20 seconds.


1928 Amsterdam Olympics

                                                         
1928 Amsterdam Summer Games: Men's Marathon



1932 Los Angeles Olympics

 











1932 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Marathon


The New York Times newspaper article on Jimmy Henigan's Life

The Training

Today I did a brisk 3 mile walk on my out and back circuit. It took 44:10 minutes. Wow really cooking now!!! I have been thinking about how to approach the training. I want to start out slow so I don't injure myself. I have decided to use this Training Program. However since I am still chunky I am going to walk instead of run. As the weight comes off and my cardio improves I may introduce running into the schedule. I senese that I am at the threshold of a great journey. I have recently moved up to Oregon form Southern California and I still have buisness down there. I have had to go down to So Cal on buisness several times this year and elected to drive. If you drive straight through it is 13-15 hours and I have done that many times over the last five years. Starting to train for Boston feels like when I start that drive down to So Cal.  It seems insurmountable. It is 750 miles down and 750 miles back. Yet I get it done one mile at a time.

Have I flipped out?

I have begun researching how to train for a marathon and it dawned on me that it is a lot of work. I knew that it was I just forgot. I ran competitively in high school and college. However that was 30 years ago. In high school I would run 50-60 miles a week. In college I would run 80 miles a week or more. Prior to my freshman year in college we had a summer camp for the fall cross county season. We clocked 105 miles that week. I have decided to follow Hal Higdon's Marathon Training Guide. He breaks down the training into a series of weeks. He has a number of programs depending on your condition and experience. Well my conditioning needs a little work. At this point I am weighing in at 214 pounds and I am 5'-10". Not the ideal running weight. I am planning to get the weight down before I get into any serious running. In high school I was a waif at 135 pounds and not much above that in college. What happened?
I was looking at the Boston Marathon web page and saw that they have a Charity Program that they allow runners to enter to raise funds for there particular charity. There is a charity that interested me it was Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Both my parents died of lung cancer when I was a teenager. They died two years apart. I was 16 when my mom died and 18 when my dad died. They were smokers. However it seemed they aged so prematurely. I have thought perhaps they were exposed to some sort of carcinogenic some time in their lives. I do recall that they met when they both worked in a box factory back in the 40's or 50's. God only knows what they could have been exposed to. In any event their death was life changing experience to say the least. It forced me to ask the question, Why? This lead me on a path to discover the meaning of life. Little did I know that journey had been trekked many times before I stepped on that path. I may approach Dana Faber Cancer Institute to participate in their Boston Marathon running program.
I also looked at Marathons that I could qualify for Boston. I live in Southern Oregon so I concentrated on California and Oregon. There are two that might work California International Marathon and the The Portland Marathon. Both are towards the end of 2010 and give me some time to train. In the initial stages of my research it seems a monumental task. However all things are possible for those who believe.

The Start

I have begun my quest to run the Boston Marathon in 2011. To qualify for Boston you must clock a 3 hour and 30 minute time. That is roughly 8 minute miles for 26 miles. Today I ran one mile. I live on a dirt road and from my drive way to the end of the dirt road is 1/2 mile. The out and the back is one mile. There are no other homes between my home and the end of the road. I am literally running through the wilderness. There is a hill at the beginning of the 1/2 mile and hill at the end off the 1/2 mile. My goal was to see were I am in relation to the 8 minute mile. I clocked a 8:49:15. I was sucking air to say the least. It brought me back to my youth when I ran competitively. The legs and arms like lead and the lungs a blaze with fire. That last quarter mile sprint when the sensation of your body is if you are running in slow motion. However today that was the complete mile. I have a way to go.
Why am I subjecting myself to this torment? Well it is a long story. Hopefully over the next year it will unfold. This is my Everest .