The Running for Real Podcast Tony Reed: Wisdom, Commitment, and Joy in Running the Distance - R4R 242
- Running marathons was secondary to Tony. He shares he started running and walking 3 miles a day after learning he was pre-diabetic and that exercise might help. He's kept his commitment to 3 miles a day throughout his life.[29:15]
- Tony has run 131 marathons. He shares that it's easy for people's initial reaction to be in awe, but he reminds us that it took him 40 years. We so often look at the snapshot but we don't look at either what goes behind the scenes or how long it took. [07:20]
- His my mother introduced Tony and his brother to collecting postage stamps, which sparked a love of travel."Our mission was to see the world, it was to get out of the project, was to get out of the ghetto and literally to travel to see the entire world." [29:30]
- Music is part of Tony's running. He shares that with every marathon he picks a theme song in his head and has songs associated with all the marathons. "At the Hartford, Connecticut Marathon we had 5.5 inches of rain during the race. I found myself singing the lyrics to Parliament's Aqua Boogie funk song…And so he talks about dancing underwater without getting wet. And I visualized myself running this marathon and the raindrops were partying."[14:23]
- Tony says there's something in his mind about not wanting to run the perfect race. So during the Dallas White Rock Marathon he had a mile and a half left when he realized he hadn't stopped to walk the entire race. So, he stopped and walked 25 yards then he picked it back up. [16:55]
- When Tony started running marathons, social media wasn't around so there was no way of finding out how to run a marathon. During his quest for information, he discovered Ted Corbitt and his accomplishments. After learning Ted Corbitt was Black, Tony decided to find a way to recognize the accomplishments of Black distance runners so he co-founded the National Black Distance Running Fall of Fame in 2013. Marilyn Bevans and Ted Cobitt were the first to be inducted. (Bevans was recently interviewed an episode of Running Realized) [21:40]
- Ted Corbitt is actually the person who came up with the concept of the five borough race in New York City. He was also one of the first presidents of the New York Road Runners Club, as well as for the Road Runners Club of America. He was the first Black runner on the Olympic marathon team in 1952, and was an ultra runner. He is the person that they generally call the father of distance running in the U. S. [21:40]
- National Black Marathoners Association is working to plant seeds to improve distance running for Blacks throughout the country including scholarships and mentoring One other project is getting Ted Corbitt on a national stamp. You join in supporting this initiative on here. [59:50]
- Tony shares that he hopes the pandemic is giving people an opportunity to reflect on why they run. Are they running for the medals? Are they running for their health? Are they running to relieve stress?
- "I like to say one of the things that running taught me was to go through to a self-analysis to look at my weak points. So again looking at what is a real or perceived weakness and then doing something to prove that this is indeed a strength."
Ted Corbitt Black Heritage US Postage Stamp Project
National Black Marathoners Association
Marilyn Bevans interview on Running Realized
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Thank you to Tony, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.