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Nearly 50 area runners to compete in Boston Marathon

Wright State professor, Dayton Country Club manager among runners in Monday’s race.

Wright State University professor Carl Brun is one of many area runners who will be participating in Monday’s Boston Marathon. During winter months, training in the WSU fitness center was part of his regimen. Staff photo by Jim Witmer

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By Marc F. Pendleton, Staff Writer Updated 12:27 AM Friday, April 15, 2011

Carl Brun already envisions what he’s going to do once he finishes Monday’s Boston Marathon.

And it won’t be to wobble or kneel.

“I’m checking this off my bucket list,” he said this week.

Brun is chairman of the Department of Social Work at Wright State University. He’ll join 48 area runners — and more than 20,000 overall — in the signature Boston Athletic Association event.

It’s the world’s oldest and most well-known 26.2-mile race. It also is the qualifying goal of many, from road racing speedsters to rec runners.

Most marathons require only a completed registration to participate. To run at Boston, one must hit a qualifying time at a sanctioned marathon, usually within about 15 to 18 months prior.

That’s a whole lot of distance training in a relative brief time.

Among the area’s more notable entrants are:

• Oakwood resident, Dayton Country Club manager and Boston Marathon regular Walter Schaller, at 74 the area’s oldest contestant.

• Troy resident and Ohio State University student Dan Sheehan, 20, the area’s youngest runner entered.

• John Bradosky, 58, general secretary of the North American Lutheran Church. The Centerville resident also is the father of Jacob Bradosky, who won the Marine Corps Marathon last fall in Washington.

• The Barton family of Greenville, a rare four-pack of two brothers and their wives.

The race is on

Brun, 51, is a Boston novice. He’s run just five marathons and qualified for Boston at the 2009 Columbus Marathon. But just barely.

At that time, the male 50-54 age group had a qualifying time of 3 hours, 35 minutes (8:12 per mile) and a one-minute grace window. That meant that he could run 60 seconds past the magic mark and still qualify for Boston.

He used up 41 of those bonus ticks.

That wasn’t his only close call.

He chose Columbus that year because his 50th birthday was the day before. As any road racer can attest, every five-year age increment is reason to celebrate, because a runner is bumped into a higher — and more lenient — age group.

Brun picked up five extra qualifying minutes with that birthday, “and I needed every minute,” he said.

The day after that Columbus race, Boston registration drama kicked in. The race is notorious for quickly filling its field. That year, the BAA website crashed soon after the 9 a.m. registration start because of the avalanche of submissions.

Brun finally registered after three hours.

“That’s all you have to say, I’m running Boston,” said Brun, who regularly bikes to school and back to cross train.

“A lot of people run marathons, but very few get to run Boston.”

A novelty team

The running Bartons began with brothers Mark, 54, and Richard, 58. Mark’s wife Kathy, 54, and Richard’s wife Crystal, 35, later joined in the long-distance fun.

All four ran at Boston two years ago, but Richard and Crystal weren’t yet married.

“I don’t know if you’ll ever see anything like this,” Mark said.

The Bartons are members of the locally based Ohio River Road Runners Club and frequently win age-group hardware at all distances. They’re also involved in ultra racing, any distance that’s farther than a marathon.

They likely won’t see each other during the race because of staggered start times for the various age groups. Still, like many others, the Boston Marathon is their ultimate race.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Mark said. “This is what it’s all about.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2381 or mpendleton@DaytonDailyNews.com.

115th Boston Marathon

Who: Professional and amateur runners

When: Monday (The race is always on Patriots’ Day) Time: 10 a.m.

TV: Live on Versus from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; same-day delay from 4 to 7 p.m.

Sponsor: Boston Athletic Association

Distance: 26.2 miles Race debut: 1897

Course: Starts at Hopkinton, passes Wellesley and Boston colleges, and eight Massachusetts cities and towns

Notable feature: Heartbreak Hill, between miles 20-21

Men’s record holder: Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya (2 hours,  5 minutes, 52 seconds) in 2010

Women’s record holder: Margaret Okayo of Kenya (2:20:43) in 2002

Spectators: About 500,000 will line the course for New England’s most widely viewed event

Scandal: Can’t beat Rosie Ruiz, who in 1980 initially was proclaimed the women’s winner. However, she didn’t show up on any race video. An interviewer asked about interval training and she wondered what that was. It was determined that she joined the racing only for the last mile and was disqualified.

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