The Boston Marathon's Uncertain Future with Race Director Dave McGillivray - 10-07-2020

Were you one of the 30,000 people hoping to run the Boston
Marathon this year? Are you hoping to run Boston next year? If
yes, then you’ll want to listen to this episode with race
director Dave McGillivray. 


This year marked the first time since the first Boston Marathon
in 1897 that the race was held virtually and not in person.
Ordinarily, registration for Boston would have happened in
September, but as of right now, October 2020, registration has
been indefinitely postponed. 


In this week’s interview, Coach Claire talks to Dave about how
the virtual event went, how the Boston Athletic Association (BAA)
has adapted due to the coronavirus, and what the future of the
race might look like, including qualifications. 


Dave also shares what he believes to be the silver lining of the
pandemic, as well as his own personal health scare story which he
started sharing once he learned his experience could help others.


Dave has been the director of the Boston Marathon since 1988, but
he also practically invented the concept of running for charity
when he ran across the United States to raise money for the Jimmy
Fund in 1978. He ran 3,452 miles from Medford, Oregon to Medford,
Massachusetts over 80 days, averaging 45 miles per day. He ended
his run in Fenway Park to a 32,000-person standing ovation. He
has personally raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and has
been a source of inspiration to countless others.


Dave has many other incredible athletic accomplishments under his
belt as well. 1980 was a big year as he became the 30th person to
complete a Hawaii Ironman Triathlon by finishing in 14th place.
In subsequent years, he completed the event an additional eight
times. That year, Dave also ran 1,250 miles of the East Coast,
starting in Winter Haven, Florida and ending in Boston. He was
joined by wheelchair marathon pioneer Bob Hall to raise money for
the Jimmy Fund, and they met with President Carter at the White
House during the Washington, D.C. leg.


And that wasn’t all for 1980. Dave also raised more than $10,000
for the handicapped in the Run For Our Dreams Marathon, running
120 miles in 24 hours through 31 communities in Southeastern
Massachusetts, finishing in Foxboro Stadium (now Gillette
Stadium) during a New England Patriots game halftime. 


In 1981, Dave raised $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund competing in an
ultra triathlon which involved 1,522 combined miles of running,
cycling, and swimming in six New England states. The race
included running up and down Mt. Washington and swimming over
seven miles from Martha’s Vineyard to Falmouth, Massachusetts
where he was greeted by thousands on the beach.


As though running Boston wasn’t challenging enough, in 1982, Dave
ran the marathon in 3:14 while blindfolded, accompanied by two
guides, raising over $10,000 for the Carroll Center for the Blind
in Newton, Massachusetts. 


In 1983, he swam for 24 consecutive hours, covering the distance
of the Boston Marathon, to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. He
also raised money for his alma mater, Merrimack College, by
cycling over 1,000 miles through six New England states in 14
days. He raised more money for charity by cycling for 24
consecutive hours in a five-mile loop in Medford, Massachusetts
for a total of 385 miles, while simultaneously directing the
annual Bay State Triathlon which was taking place on the same
course at the same time.


In 2004, Dave ran across the country a second time for TREK USA
with nine other marathoners in relay style, raising over $300,000
for five children’s charities. In 2018, he accomplished the World
Marathon Challenge, running seven marathons in seven days on
seven continents.


To date Dave has run 158 marathons, including 48 consecutive
Boston Marathons (32 of which were run at night after the
official marathon.) His marathon personal best is 2:29:58. His
Ironman personal best is 10:36:42. 


Fun note: Dave has run his birthday age each year since the age
of 12. In recent years, he has both run and cycled the miles.


In addition to being a super athlete and philanthropist, Dave is
also an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and author.  He
has been recognized with numerous honors and awards over the
years for his achievements, and through his DMSE Sports and DMSE
Foundation, he has raised over $50 million for charity.


 
Questions Dave is asked:

        


5:48 The Boston Marathon was held virtually this year, in
September.  How did it go?  


 


7:49 I know the BAA discouraged people from running on the course
this year, but many people unofficially did.  What is your
reaction to that?


 


9:12 I would love to rewind a little bit and go back to February
and March of this year. What were you and the team at the Boston
Athletic Association talking about in the early days of
COVID?  


 


11:29 Obviously throughout the summer you had to go virtual. What
was that decision like?


 


13:05 As we record this, it is just before the London marathon,
which shifted to an elites-only race. Was having an elites-only
race an option for the Boston Marathon?


 


14:46 I don’t know how they’re keeping the spectators away in
London. I just interviewed Jared Ward and he said, “I don’t know.
I’m just showing up.” I don’t know how they’re keeping them away.
I don’t know if you’ve had talks with them or no?


 


15:47 Looking forward to 2021, obviously there’s a lot of things
up in the air. Usually in September, everyone is signing up for
the next year’s Boston, and registration is to be determined. Can
you shed any light on that and give us any hints?


 


19:01 How does next year’s Boston being up in the air affect
qualifying? Usually you have an 18-month window of qualifying
races, but obviously this year was totally different. Qualifying
for the Boston Marathon is the Olympics for some people and it’s
everything, and what they train for, and what they dreamed of for
years, so how does that look from a qualification point of view?


 


20:34 And the virtual race, that’s not going to count for a
qualification, correct?


 


20:43 If things do change and things are looking good for 2021,
what kind of things have you learned from this year and how will
it be different?


 


23:18 When you talk about potentially having a smaller field size
next year, the first thing that obviously comes up means the
faster runners would be qualified. Is that how you would shrink
the field size, by increasing the times?


 


24:12 Boston isn’t the only race that you direct. You do direct
some smaller races, and a smaller race, you have more flexibility
to stagger the starts and things like that. Do you see some of
the smaller races, Falmouth for example, coming back sooner than
the major marathons?


 


26:49 On a personal note, every year after the end of the Boston
Marathon you have a tradition of running the race yourself. Did
you run on Patriots Day?


 


28:04 One thing that people might not know about you is that two
years ago, you had open heart surgery, which is very uncommon
considering you’ve been such a prolific runner for all your life.
Could you talk a little bit about that?


 


32:07 What did your doctor say about running? Is running bad for
your heart?


 


33:56 What kind of advice would you give someone who is training
for Boston right now or that hopes to train for Boston?


 


35:06 Any silver linings from all of this craziness in 2020 that
you can think of?






36:55 Questions I ask everyone:


 
If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started
running, what advice would you give?

 
What is the greatest gift running has given you?

 
Where can listeners connect with you?

 


 
Quotes by Dave:

 


“You had to reimagine. You had to start doing things that you
don’t necessarily have a skill set in, whether it’s developing an
app, or whether it’s developing a virtual expo. How do you do
this?”


 


“We created a COVID committee of experienced scientists,
epidemiologists, CDC folks, governmental folks, and put this
group together to sort of help us come to some kind of
intelligent conclusion as to truly what are we looking at here
for next year’s Boston Marathon.”


 


“I learned a valuable lesson from my open heart surgery. Just
because you’re fit doesn’t mean you’re healthy. And shame on me;
I always thought it did.”


Take a Listen on Your Next Run


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Mentioned in this podcast: 

BAA - Boston Athletic Association


Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community


RunnersConnect Facebook page


claire@runnersconnect.net


DMSE Sports Foundation






Follow Dave on:


 


Facebook


Instagram


Twitter


 


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