Norm Frank Nailed World Best 900th Marathon in Memphis
'Marathon Man' aims for his 900th today
Rochester grandfather ran his first 26.2-mile race in Boston back in 1967
(Norm completed the Memphis Marathon on 12/3/05 in 6:53:49)
Jim Castor, Assistant Sports Editor, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle
(December 3, 2005) — A few hours from now, if all goes well, Norm Frank will finish running another marathon and pass a milestone that's his alone.
Rochester's Marathon Man, a 74-year-old grandfather of two, is in Memphis, Tenn., today for his 900th certified 26.2-mile road race. No one on Earth has completed more, he says.
"Absolutely," was his answer when asked if they're getting any harder. "You see how quickly I answered that?! I'm getting slower and they're getting harder, all right."
He's coping with a few "problems," as he calls them — shin splints and a leg infection — but nothing that will prevent him from setting out three hours ahead of the starting gun at the St. Jude Memphis Marathon so he can complete the race with a certified time before the course closes in six or seven hours.
"I run the whole thing," he says. "Actually, it's sort of like a shuffle. I don't like to call it a jog, and it's not walking. I don't like to walk. It's more difficult."
Among Frank's feats are running at least one marathon a month for 216 consecutive months (that's 18 years and change) and running at the North Pole, along the Berlin Wall and the original marathon route from Marathon to Athens, Greece.
Frank's first marathon, Boston in 1967, and the early hundreds that followed were a walk in the park compared with many in the past few years.
He was back on the roads for marathon 660 just two months after open heart surgery in September of 1998, when doctors rebuilt part of his aorta with a cow valve.
He blew out an Achilles tendon and was in a cast for three months in 2001, cracked several ribs while colliding with a dog in 2003 and tore a rotator cuff when he tripped over some construction materials and whacked his shoulder on a light pole walking from the Houston Marathon Expo to his hotel last year.
"I'm fine," he said Thursday night by phone from Memphis. "Just had my semi-annual heart checkup. My arteries are clear and my blood flow is great. Things are working good. I can't complain." -- JCASTOR@DemocratandChronicle
Norm Frank
Occupation/avocation: Founder, owner Marathon Lawn Service/distance runner.
Born/age: June 20, 1931/74.
Ht./wt.: 6-feet-2/185 pounds.
Education: East High School, Class of 1950.
Career highlights: No. 1 marathoner in world with 899, including at least one in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Ran his first one, the first of 30 Boston Marathons, in 1967 at age 37. Member, Frontier Field Walk of Fame (2000).
Milestone marathons: 100th — Erie, Pa.; 200 — Arctic Circle; 300 — Wheeling, W. Va.; 400 — Boston; 500 — Erie, Pa.; 600 — Burlington, Vt.; 700 — Huntsville, Ala.; 800 — Huntsville, Ala. (Dec. 14, 2002); 900 — today in Memphis.
Best time: 3 hours, 20 minutes, Rochester, 1973.
Estimated mileage: More than 80,000, counting training. That's running around the Earth about three times.
Goals: Finish 1,000 marathons, in 2008, maybe make a TV ad with the Energizer bunny.
Rochester grandfather ran his first 26.2-mile race in Boston back in 1967
(Norm completed the Memphis Marathon on 12/3/05 in 6:53:49)
Jim Castor, Assistant Sports Editor, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle
(December 3, 2005) — A few hours from now, if all goes well, Norm Frank will finish running another marathon and pass a milestone that's his alone.
Rochester's Marathon Man, a 74-year-old grandfather of two, is in Memphis, Tenn., today for his 900th certified 26.2-mile road race. No one on Earth has completed more, he says.
"Absolutely," was his answer when asked if they're getting any harder. "You see how quickly I answered that?! I'm getting slower and they're getting harder, all right."
He's coping with a few "problems," as he calls them — shin splints and a leg infection — but nothing that will prevent him from setting out three hours ahead of the starting gun at the St. Jude Memphis Marathon so he can complete the race with a certified time before the course closes in six or seven hours.
"I run the whole thing," he says. "Actually, it's sort of like a shuffle. I don't like to call it a jog, and it's not walking. I don't like to walk. It's more difficult."
Among Frank's feats are running at least one marathon a month for 216 consecutive months (that's 18 years and change) and running at the North Pole, along the Berlin Wall and the original marathon route from Marathon to Athens, Greece.
Frank's first marathon, Boston in 1967, and the early hundreds that followed were a walk in the park compared with many in the past few years.
He was back on the roads for marathon 660 just two months after open heart surgery in September of 1998, when doctors rebuilt part of his aorta with a cow valve.
He blew out an Achilles tendon and was in a cast for three months in 2001, cracked several ribs while colliding with a dog in 2003 and tore a rotator cuff when he tripped over some construction materials and whacked his shoulder on a light pole walking from the Houston Marathon Expo to his hotel last year.
"I'm fine," he said Thursday night by phone from Memphis. "Just had my semi-annual heart checkup. My arteries are clear and my blood flow is great. Things are working good. I can't complain." -- JCASTOR@DemocratandChronicle
Norm Frank
Occupation/avocation: Founder, owner Marathon Lawn Service/distance runner.
Born/age: June 20, 1931/74.
Ht./wt.: 6-feet-2/185 pounds.
Education: East High School, Class of 1950.
Career highlights: No. 1 marathoner in world with 899, including at least one in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Ran his first one, the first of 30 Boston Marathons, in 1967 at age 37. Member, Frontier Field Walk of Fame (2000).
Milestone marathons: 100th — Erie, Pa.; 200 — Arctic Circle; 300 — Wheeling, W. Va.; 400 — Boston; 500 — Erie, Pa.; 600 — Burlington, Vt.; 700 — Huntsville, Ala.; 800 — Huntsville, Ala. (Dec. 14, 2002); 900 — today in Memphis.
Best time: 3 hours, 20 minutes, Rochester, 1973.
Estimated mileage: More than 80,000, counting training. That's running around the Earth about three times.
Goals: Finish 1,000 marathons, in 2008, maybe make a TV ad with the Energizer bunny.
posted by WalkSports.com | 12:08 PM
1 Comments:
how cool is this guy! if i ever met him i would certainly want his autograph! many of us don't ever run that many road races PERIOD in our careers! (except maybe Jon...how many races have you done total?)
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