The Boston Marathon's Uncertain Future with Race Director Dave McGillivray - 10-07-2020

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Were you one of the 30,000 people hoping to run the Boston Marathon this year? Are you hoping to run Boston next year? If yes, then you’ll want to listen to this episode with race director Dave McGillivray.

This year marked the first time since the first Boston Marathon in 1897 that the race was held virtually and not in person. Ordinarily, registration for Boston would have happened in September, but as of right now, October 2020, registration has been indefinitely postponed.

In this week’s interview, Coach Claire talks to Dave about how the virtual event went, how the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) has adapted due to the coronavirus, and what the future of the race might look like, including qualifications.

Dave also shares what he believes to be the silver lining of the pandemic, as well as his own personal health scare story which he started sharing once he learned his experience could help others.

Dave has been the director of the Boston Marathon since 1988, but he also practically invented the concept of running for charity when he ran across the United States to raise money for the Jimmy Fund in 1978. He ran 3,452 miles from Medford, Oregon to Medford, Massachusetts over 80 days, averaging 45 miles per day. He ended his run in Fenway Park to a 32,000-person standing ovation. He has personally raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and has been a source of inspiration to countless others.

Dave has many other incredible athletic accomplishments under his belt as well. 1980 was a big year as he became the 30th person to complete a Hawaii Ironman Triathlon by finishing in 14th place. In subsequent years, he completed the event an additional eight times. That year, Dave also ran 1,250 miles of the East Coast, starting in Winter Haven, Florida and ending in Boston. He was joined by wheelchair marathon pioneer Bob Hall to raise money for the Jimmy Fund, and they met with President Carter at the White House during the Washington, D.C. leg.

And that wasn’t all for 1980. Dave also raised more than $10,000 for the handicapped in the Run For Our Dreams Marathon, running 120 miles in 24 hours through 31 communities in Southeastern Massachusetts, finishing in Foxboro Stadium (now Gillette Stadium) during a New England Patriots game halftime.

In 1981, Dave raised $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund competing in an ultra triathlon which involved 1,522 combined miles of running, cycling, and swimming in six New England states. The race included running up and down Mt. Washington and swimming over seven miles from Martha’s Vineyard to Falmouth, Massachusetts where he was greeted by thousands on the beach.

As though running Boston wasn’t challenging enough, in 1982, Dave ran the marathon in 3:14 while blindfolded, accompanied by two guides, raising over $10,000 for the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts.

In 1983, he swam for 24 consecutive hours, covering the distance of the Boston Marathon, to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. He also raised money for his alma mater, Merrimack College, by cycling over 1,000 miles through six New England states in 14 days. He raised more money for charity by cycling for 24 consecutive hours in a five-mile loop in Medford, Massachusetts for a total of 385 miles, while simultaneously directing the annual Bay State Triathlon which was taking place on the same course at the same time.

In 2004, Dave ran across the country a second time for TREK USA with nine other marathoners in relay style, raising over $300,000 for five children’s charities. In 2018, he accomplished the World Marathon Challenge, running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.

To date Dave has run 158 marathons, including 48 consecutive Boston Marathons (32 of which were run at night after the official marathon.) His marathon personal best is 2:29:58. His Ironman personal best is 10:36:42.

Fun note: Dave has run his birthday age each year since the age of 12. In recent years, he has both run and cycled the miles.

In addition to being a super athlete and philanthropist, Dave is also an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and author. He has been recognized with numerous honors and awards over the years for his achievements, and through his DMSE Sports and DMSE Foundation, he has raised over $50 million for charity.

Questions Dave is asked:

5:48 The Boston Marathon was held virtually this year, in September. How did it go?

7:49 I know the BAA discouraged people from running on the course this year, but many people unofficially did. What is your reaction to that?

9:12 I would love to rewind a little bit and go back to February and March of this year. What were you and the team at the Boston Athletic Association talking about in the early days of COVID?

11:29 Obviously throughout the summer you had to go virtual. What was that decision like?

13:05 As we record this, it is just before the London marathon, which shifted to an elites-only race. Was having an elites-only race an option for the Boston Marathon?

14:46 I don’t know how they’re keeping the spectators away in London. I just interviewed Jared Ward and he said, “I don’t know. I’m just showing up.” I don’t know how they’re keeping them away. I don’t know if you’ve had talks with them or no?

15:47 Looking forward to 2021, obviously there’s a lot of things up in the air. Usually in September, everyone is signing up for the next year’s Boston, and registration is to be determined. Can you shed any light on that and give us any hints?

19:01 How does next year’s Boston being up in the air affect qualifying? Usually you have an 18-month window of qualifying races, but obviously this year was totally different. Qualifying for the Boston Marathon is the Olympics for some people and it’s everything, and what they train for, and what they dreamed of for years, so how does that look from a qualification point of view?

20:34 And the virtual race, that’s not going to count for a qualification, correct?

20:43 If things do change and things are looking good for 2021, what kind of things have you learned from this year and how will it be different?

23:18 When you talk about potentially having a smaller field size next year, the first thing that obviously comes up means the faster runners would be qualified. Is that how you would shrink the field size, by increasing the times?

24:12 Boston isn’t the only race that you direct. You do direct some smaller races, and a smaller race, you have more flexibility to stagger the starts and things like that. Do you see some of the smaller races, Falmouth for example, coming back sooner than the major marathons?

26:49 On a personal note, every year after the end of the Boston Marathon you have a tradition of running the race yourself. Did you run on Patriots Day?

28:04 One thing that people might not know about you is that two years ago, you had open heart surgery, which is very uncommon considering you’ve been such a prolific runner for all your life. Could you talk a little bit about that?

32:07 What did your doctor say about running? Is running bad for your heart?

33:56 What kind of advice would you give someone who is training for Boston right now or that hopes to train for Boston?

35:06 Any silver linings from all of this craziness in 2020 that you can think of?

36:55 Questions I ask everyone:

1. If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

2. What is the greatest gift running has given you?

3. Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Dave:

“You had to reimagine. You had to start doing things that you don’t necessarily have a skill set in, whether it’s developing an app, or whether it’s developing a virtual expo. How do you do this?”

“We created a COVID committee of experienced scientists, epidemiologists, CDC folks, governmental folks, and put this group together to sort of help us come to some kind of intelligent conclusion as to truly what are we looking at here for next year’s Boston Marathon.”

“I learned a valuable lesson from my open heart surgery. Just because you’re fit doesn’t mean you’re healthy. And shame on me; I always thought it did.”

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Mentioned in this podcast:

BAA - Boston Athletic Association

Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community

RunnersConnect Facebook page

[e-mail]

DMSE Sports Foundation

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