No. 133, Revisited [Runners]

Photo by James Rogers

Photo by James Rogers

“I work for the power company here; we work underground. [Collazo] was 37, and in a manhole vault, the cable exploded…he was down there. He survived seven months in the Loyola burn unit. Seventy percent of his body was burned, and he passed away. This kid was like a friend.”

No. 133 [Runners]

Photo by James Rogers

Photo by James Rogers

“[Lenny] had a massive heart attack. They found him in the shower. He was a big guy. They came home, it was out of the blue, two years ago.”

No. 132 [Runners]

Photo by James Rogers

Photo by James Rogers

“I am 36, I’ve been running for about three years, and I don’t really have a great story. I just started running because I had young children, and it was the easiest thing to do. I’m a little bit of an obsessive-compulsive person, so when I do something, I do it. … I still feel like every race I learn something new about myself and maybe what I can and what I can’t do. I’ve seen myself be able to do things that I never thought I’d be able to do.”

No. 131 [Runners]

Photo by James Rogers

Photo by James Rogers

“I always have a cigar after every race, even if it’s a 5K. I got married when I was 47, and in three years, we had four kids. We don’t have friends that can help us this morning, so my wife is at home with the kids. I did not train at all for this. I’m 30 pounds overweight, I’m 53, I didn’t set foot on the street for the last month, I’ve had two meniscus operations, but I paid my money, so I might as well get tortured. My PR is a 3:05, and I think if I got back down to weight, even at my age, I might be able to get close to that. I did a 3:25 a couple years ago. This time I was gunning for 4:00, and I just blew up at [mile] 18, so I did 4:25.”

No. 130 [Runners]

Photo by James Rogers

Photo by James Rogers

“It’s my first marathon. A friend of mine kind of bamboozled me into doing it. I’ve done a few halves, and I always said I’d never do a full because I didn’t want to train for it, but here we are. I had a good buddy’s wedding that I was the best man at yesterday, so it was a sober reception for me, and I had to get out of there a little early, but I ran a lot of miles for them today.”