Terry Stanley
Eldred PA
DOB: 9-05-52
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AMBY COMMENT: Terry is part of a very small group of runners who have finished a sub-3 marathon in 5 straight decades. He estimates his total lifetime miles at 140,000 to 160,000, "maybe more," so I split the difference. He ran 120 miles a week during his prime years, and has averaged 85-90 the last decade.]
I knew that you were going to ask about the marathon PR's through the decades so I looked through some old articles over the weekend. Here goes: 1970's - I ran a 2:18:57 in 1979 at the World Cup in Montreal. It was very hot in August. The highlight was to run with and meet Bill Rodgers. Bill was favored to win but the heat got to him that day and he faded. I finished 14th in a world class field. 1980"s - I ran my PR of 2:17:34 at the 1981 Penn Relays. Great race. It's too bad that the Penn Relays do not hold a marathon anymore. 1990's - I won the Buffalo Marathon in May of 1990 in 2:28 and change. 2000's - Ironically, I ran two almost identical times of 2:42 and both at the Wineglass Marathon. One was in 2001 and the other was in 2004. I was second and fourth place finisher. Obviously, my only marathon of the 2010 decade was my win on January 31 at the Ohio Northern (Indoor) Marathon in 2:58:09.
I've run Boston three times. My best was in 1979 where I finished in 2:19:40 and finished 52nd. In recent years that time would get me a top 20 finish. It's just so hard to get away from here to run a Monday race that I haven't hit Boston in many years. It is a great race! I remember one year that my wife wanted to see the start. I beat her back to the finish line due to the traffic. Crazy!
One other thing that you may or may not know is that I hold the record for the longest time span between marathon wins. That record is now 32 years 143 days. The fellow in second place is Klaus Goldammer from Germany(28years and 119 days). I'm pretty proud of that distinction.