Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: October 27, 1985 & November 2, 1986
This endurance run was on my bucket list since I was in high school. Rosie ran the New York Marathon in 1985. I decided to train and run the 1986 marathon with Rosie. In 1986 we stayed in a hotel at midtown Manhattan and hopped on a bus at 5am at the New York Public Library to shuttle us to Staten Island where the race began. The race route winded through all five boroughs of New York. When the cannon boomed to start the 26 mile 385 yard race we were two of over 20,000 runners participating. We immediately ran across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. As a tradition, men who couldn’t make it to the largest latrine that I have ever seen would pee off the side of the bridge.
We entered the Brooklyn and ran eleven miles of winding roads through many neighborhoods. At the halfway mark, mile 13 we crossed Pulaski Bridge into Queens. We reached Manhattan at mile 16 and ran north on First Street and into the Bronx for only one mile. Back in Manhattan we ran through Harlem then south towards Central Park. The last 5 miles was through Central Park. Over 2.5 million people lined the course cheering. Rosie was trying to beat the 3 hour fifty minute mark and qualify for the Boston Marathon. Rosie started the race far up in the pack (at the seven minute per mile pace). Just past the 13 mile marker Rosie was averaging a 3 hr. 40 minute marathon pace much faster than she had planned to go. At mile 14 she hit “the wall” and had to slow down her pace. She still almost broke four hours and finished (Photo#1) with a great time of 4 hours 6 minutes (10 minutes faster than the previous year). Rosie finished 1,100th out of over 11,000 women. I plodded along at my pace (Photo#2) and was quite satisfied finishing at 4 hours 24 minutes (Photo#3). I wore my Theta Chi Fraternity running jersey. Many spectators yelled go “Theta Chi” but those who did not recognize Greek letters yelled “Go OX”. After the race we ordered a super large NY style pizza, watched the movie “Little Trouble in Big China” starring Kurt Russel on TV and fell asleep. Dayton Daily News did a nice article about us running the marathon (Photo#5). We were very happy with our accomplishment completing one of the world’s most popular marathons.
