Team Sport Report: Scott Graham

There are some people out there that give back more than they take. Scott Graham is one of those people, at least as I have seen it myself in the running community. He offers plenty of advice to less experienced runners, great camaraderie, and has volunteered at races such as my first half marathon last fall - the Bay State Half Marathon. It was truly awesome to have my family out there rooting me on during the race, but also a pleasant surprise to see Scott out there shouting his support and offering high fives.

When he is competing he is also very good at giving out trash talk! He can dish it out and back it up too. And I say this is all in good fun! Well, as it turns out a little trash talking is how I met Scotty G.

The first time I saw Scott was at the first annual Krit Classic road race. The only thing I noticed (not having spoken that day) was that it seemed like he knew what he was doing, wearing a race team jersey among a fairly casual race crowd. Now I would never have met the guy if it weren't for a Google image search and the Westford Academy (WA) Summer Race Series. After the Krit Classic I was searching for race photos and I came across Scott's blog runscottygrun.blogspot.com. Well, the same day I attended the first
week of the WA summer series and saw none other than Scott toeing the line there.

We raced pretty competitively (for me), with Scott taking first place and me not far behind in second.  After this race Scott took to his blog and wrote this race summary, the key part being this:

"There were four of us together when we hit the mile in 6:13. Which was still 17 seconds faster then I wanted to be so I slowed it down a bit. No sense in blowing my Mt Washington race for this one. One of the 30 year old's came around me and took the lead. Allen and the other 30 year old started to drop back. I just let this guy get a 20 yard lead and stalked him for the next 2.4 miles. I hung right behind him and never took the lead UNTIL, I could tell that he was tiring. His breathing was labored and his form was starting to break down. With 2/10's of a mile left to go I went around him and quickly put 30 yards on him. He was broke, I took a quick look over my shoulder and his head was looking down and his form was now ugly. I cruised onto the track and took the W, in just under 6:30 per mile. Right where I wanted to be."

OK, from that point it was game on! I got my revenge in week 2, but Scott took care of business in the remaining head to head matchups that summer. The good news is that my portrayal in his blog posts improved!

This post here has got to be in the Scotty G Hall of Fame, as he described his feelings after running that Mt. Washington Road race:


"I want all my friends to go out to their garage and get a 2 x 4 and write my name on it. If I ever sign up for the Mt Washington road race again I want you ALL to use it on me. I don't want the 2 x 4's used to knock some sense into me, I want you to use them to knock me out completely."

Now I'll let you in on a little secret that Scott has in fact competed in this race since he wrote those words. I guess his friends aren't all that great - we should have sought out those 2 x 4's as he requested!

Another thing you should know is that Scott is a 25 year veteran of the Boston Marathon! He is also going for #26 in this year's running. In fact my training partner Joe Loureiro and I hosted Scott for a 14 mile training run this winter. It was my pleasure to train with him, and also broker an introduction between two real running afficionados.

So Scott, here's to a another Boston success! I know you'll be starting in wave 1 and I'll be way back in wave 3, so no hard feelings when we meet in mile 24 or so? Just saying...