43
Runner ready for ‘Holy Grail’
By JOHN BASSETTI
VIENNA
If Terry McCluskey’s winded “hello” following a sprint from his bathroom to answer a call in an adjacent room at home last week is any indication, he may be in trouble.
But don’t consider the short sprint a measurement of readiness for a longer distance.
Like 26.2 miles in Monday’s Boston Marathon.
Truthfully, McCluskey’s throne-to-the-phone response validates that the 61-year-old is primed for the event — his 13th Boston Marathon since 1988 and his 75th marathon lifetime.
Of the 74 previous marathons, 29 have been under 2 hours, 40 minutes.
“Boston is really the best in the country if not the world,” said McCluskey. “It’s like the Holy Grail of running. Everybody wants to run Boston once in their lifetime.”
McCluskey is one of many runners from the Valley who are planning to run on Monday.
But Boston entries aren’t simply for pay-to-participate runners.
“Boston requires time qualifiers,” said McCluskey. “That means a runner has to have attained a certain time depending upon his or her age.”
For McCluskey’s age, his minimum time requirement would be 3:50.
But that’s almost an hour slower than his 2:57 Boston finish in 2009.
For someone who will be 62 in July, McCluskey’s 2:57 would put him closer to a qualifying time for a runner under age 34.
The 2:57 was second in his age group (60-64).
“I got beat by 52 seconds by a guy from Russia,” said McCluskey, who also finished in the top 400 overall among roughly 25,000.
That’s in the top 2 percentile.
McCluskey vows to beat that guy this time.
“I’ll be looking for him,” said McCluskey, who finished in the top 100 twice at Boston: 74th in 1993 at age 45 (2:33.25) and 86th in 1995 at age 47 (2:33.32).
Recently, as a tune-up, McCluskey ran the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in Washington with 16,000 runners.
“It was around the monuments and under cherry blossom trees,” said McCluskey, who won the 60-64 age group.
“It was a tune-up, a hard workout for Boston.”
Running a 10-miler or 10K a week before Boston isn’t uncommon.
“It depends on the fitness level,” said McCluskey. “A lot of runners go out and use one as a very hard workout. It seems to really give them an edge. It’s sharpening your skills.”
McCluskey was 38 for his first Boston Marathon in 1988.
“I qualified and was ready to run it and get there as soon as I could,” he said of the event which coincides with Patriot’s Day (third Monday in April) in New England.
McCluskey’s preference is marathons, but his running calendar varies.
“I run a lot of races every year at different distances,” he said, preferring more marathons than most people: 3 to 5 a year, if he’s healthy.
“There’s a race somewhere every weekend. I could run as many as I want. I run what I can. I never really counted them.”
Before the Cherry Blossom, McCluskey ran two events in Florida: Jacksonville 15k (9.3 miles) and Naples 1/2 marathon (13.0 miles).
He has been through the age-group alphabet of running: masters (over 40), grand masters (over 50) and veterans or seniors (over 60).
Obviously, being on the front end of an age group is an advantage, but 10 years — not four — used to separate the Boston runners.
“Ten years is too big,” McCluskey said of classifications such as 40-49 or 50-59.
He noted the trademarks of Boston.
“It’s unique,” he said of Wellesley College females at about the 12-mile marker.
“Can you imagine hundreds of young women screaming constantly? They can be heard a half-mile away. As you approach, they want to kiss and hug runners. It’s quite a thrill to go through that area.”
A more famous spot would be Heartbreak Hill, which is the last difficult climb before runners head toward the finish.
“It’s a hard challenge at about the 20-mile marker,” McCluskey said of the grade, which is probably more demanding because of its stage than its steepness.
“The fact that it comes at 20 miles and has a history gives it the name,” said Terry, who explained that a runner named Johnny Kelley — in 1946 — got passed and beat on that hill.
“You know if you’ve prepared or not,” he said of Heartbreak Hill.
Qualifying for Boston is an achievement.
“When you earn that number, it’s something you’re proud of the rest of your life,” McCluskey said of the requirement that must be attained within 18 months of Boston.
“You have 18 months before the race to qualify. You could try as many times as you want. The better qualifying, the closer to the starting line.”
McCluskey said he has been in the first corral (group of 1,000 runners closest to the start) all 12 times.
“It’s bragging rights. That’s something I can be proud of.”
McCluskey is a 1966 graduate of Farrell High School, but he’s been living in Vienna for 40 years and works as a lab tech for St. Joe’s Health Center in Warren.