Herb Townsend
DOB July 1, 1938
Treasure Island, FL
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Swept up in the running boom, my running career began in 1977 at age 39 with a
9.8-mile race in Allentown, PA. That was enough to get me hooked. Since then I
have competed in thousands of races, including 73 marathons, 1 ultra marathon,
4 triathlons, and 7 duathlons. My personal marathon best (2:40:42) occurred in
Philadelphia, PA on November 25, 1984. But most memorable of all was being the
overall winner of the Great Valley Marathon in Chambersburg, PA on January 27,
1990 at age 51 in a time of 2:51:39.
Based on daily entries in pocket calendars from 1981 to 1999, and in Excel
spreadsheets from 2000 to the present (September 26, 2012), there are a total of
103,109 documented miles. In addition to these, I estimate another 9750 that were
run but not recorded from 1977 to 1980 (during this period I only recorded my race
distances and times), and 1171 that I estimate were run during a 19-week gap in the
data resulting from a hard-drive meltdown on my PC in 2001. If these are included,
the total becomes 114,030.
Most of my 100K+ miles were run slowly, comprising what many would consider
junk miles. Still, they made me feel good, and kept me lean and fit. Along the way,
they led me to meet many great people, visit amazing places, and have incredible
experiences. I plan to continue running, mostly on the beaches of South Jersey and
the Florida Gulf, as long as I am physically able.