Colby-Sawyer President Tom Galligan Makes the Boston Marathon His 24th
Spring has officially arrived in New London, with steadily rising temperatures and daffodils bravely poking their yellow heads out into the world. All this sunshine and warm weather has brought previously Hogan track-bound runners back out onto the roads. One of those runners could be seen 'shuffling' around New London all winter, both inside and out, in his signature floppy hat. President Tom Galligan, along with his daughter Sarah, joined a crowd of around 25,000 runners on the streets of Boston for the Patriot's Day running of the 113th Boston Marathon. He finished with a time of 5:28:13.
What was the race day like?
I was running for the American Liver Foundation and they have a breakfast in the hotel where we stayed and then a bus. The race started for me at 10:30 a.m. because I was in the second wave, so we ate breakfast at around 5:45 a.m. We got on the bus around 6:20 and drove to Hopkinton, Mass., where it starts, and we got there around 7:30 a.m. So we waited outside at a school for about three hours, and it was cold. There was a lot of energy, but there was a lot of tension, too. It was good. My daughter was freezing, but I wasn't as cold. At marathons in smaller cities, like Manchester, we just drove up and got out of the car and she ran, but Boston's a much larger race. Once you start, as far as you can see, the road is packed with runners. It was great.
So how was the race?
It was a lot of fun. My time was about an hour slower than I wanted to be, but I got really bad cramps around mile 21, right at Boston College coming down Heartbreak Hill. I stopped there for seven minutes to de-cramp, but then every time I would try to run again it would cramp up; from then on, I was a tourist, but I finished and got my medal. I finished two hours behind my daughter.
What did you do to prepare for the race?
I've always wanted to run Boston. I was once within nine minutes of qualifying and then I didn't get faster, I got slower. When Sarah qualified, I wanted to run it more, but I didn't want to run it bandit style, I didn't want to just jump in. Colby-Sawyer has a trustee, George Jamieson, and he and his wife, Kris, are really interested in research on the liver; the American Liver Association has this charity program and I got connected with them. Once I did that it was December or November, and then I thought, 'Okay, now I just have to raise some money and run a marathon,' and I hadn't run a marathon for about two years. I probably over trained. I ran five or six days a week, I did a couple of 16-mile runs, a few 18-mile runs, I did two 20-mile runs, and I did a 22-miler. I did some of them in Portsmouth where it is a little more level, and I did some of them here. For one of them I got my wife, Susan, to pick me up in Andover so I didn't have to run back uphill. I did one of them in Florida when I was at a conference. I did an 18-mile run in Hogan; I did 13 on the treadmill and five on the track. That was the hardest run of my life. So I averaged between the low to mid 30-miles a week to about 40-miles per week; I don't do any speed work or hill work or anything like that, though. If I do another marathon in the fall, I'm going to try to recommit to doing some quality work.
Why did you start running?
Because I'm obsessive-compulsive. I was always the slowest kid in my class - there was one kid I could beat for a couple of years, but I am slow - so I never thought I could run. I played baseball – well, I watched baseball in a uniform, in high school, so I would run a little then, maybe a mile - but I didn't really run. I played basketball for exercise. My first year of law school I lived three miles from school and I didn't have a car, so I walked or hitchhiked there. I didn't realize, but I was doing a lot of walking. That spring, we had four classes that were year-long classes and two that were semester-long, so that meant that the finals were based on things we learned from August to May, so it was really stressful and there was not a lot of time to devote to exercise. I had a friend who asked if I wanted to go for a run, I said that I would go but I could only run for about a mile. There were four of us who went out for a three-mile run. My friend who invited us was way out ahead and the other two ran track in high school so I was waiting for the mile to come and at the mile, I passed one of them, and at the mile and a half, I passed the other one, and I ran three miles. I've been running ever since. That was 30 years ago exactly, and to do Boston to celebrate my 30th year of running was kind of cool.
Is it different running in New London compared to other places where you have run?
I started running in Tacoma, Wash., which is relatively hilly. Then, after a year in Jersey, I moved to Baton Rouge, La., which is completely flat, but it is also, for about seven months of the year, 90 degrees. So I ran in Baton Rouge for 12 years where it was flat and miserably hot. Eastern Tennessee was much hillier than Baton Rouge and still hot, but not that hot. New London is the hilliest place I have ever run. The hills are a real challenge and the wind is a challenge. Winter is hard, but it's not as bad as the summer in Baton Rouge. The difference is the roads. When the roads are icy or there is so much snow that the roads are narrow it is hard, and then I run in Hogan. I realize, too, that for my last few years in Baton Rouge, I was running in a group, and I'm not now. That's a lot different; I've got to find a group. It makes it a lot different, especially on long runs; up to mile 10 with a group you don't notice it, so it is a lot easier to get to mile 10, whereas alone, if your foot hurts, you think about it, if the songs on the iPod are lousy, you're messing with it. I've got to find a group.
What do you think about when you run?
Sometimes I think about work, what I have to do, how I'm going to accomplish it. I think about my kids. I think about my family. I daydream. I think about music. But the best runs of all I'm thinking about nothing at all.
What is your favorite thing about running?
That's really hard to answer. The thing I like the most are those times when you're really not thinking about anything and it's kind of a meditation. You feel good. It feels good. You're just enjoying it. There's a difference between the runs where you're looking at the road and the runs when you're taking in the whole world around you. I also like the sense of accomplishment. I mean, I'm still slow, I'm real slow, but going from being the slowest kid in the class to being able to run I think is pretty neat. Any job, you come in thinking 'I'm going to do A, B and C today,' and you never get it done because things always come up. So when the end of the day comes and you think that you didn't do anything, you can always say that you went for a run.
What is your favorite distance to race?
Marathons and half marathons. I used to run a lot of 5Ks and 10Ks but as I got to be a better runner, as I got faster, I realized I was gauging my enjoyment by my time. In a 5K you go into oxygen deprivation, you're pushing yourself, and 10Ks didn't used to be like that but they got like that. I found that after running long distances it is harder to do the shorter stuff; it is harder to get that speed. I think that a half marathon or 30K might be the perfect distance because you're not pushing yourself so hard that you are huffing and puffing, you don't get that kind of pounding and beat-up feeling.
How many marathons have you run, and which was your favorite?
I have run 24 marathons now. Boston was really pretty cool, so that is definitely up there. The vain side of me says the Blue Angel Marathon in Pensacola, Fla., where I ran a 3:29, because that's my best. I did Mount Desert Island in Maine and that was really fabulous. I did Hartford a couple of years ago and that was really awesome. Most of my favorites, except for Boston, are ones that I have felt good because if you feel better it is always better. My favorite one that I had problems in is Boston.
What is your favorite route in New London?
Boy, I've got a lot. I really like going around Little Lake Sunapee. Maybe not all the way around, but if you run down to the public dock and then come back ... Pleasant Lake is great, and Kezar Lake is a fabulous place to run as well.
Are you ready to start running again?
“I'm ready to run again. I'm going up and down stairs easier; my hamstring that cramped is still a little gimpy. I'm ready to get out and shuffle again.
-Amber Cronin '11
