Court Lawyer Hits the Pavement
A lot of us who work in government offices feel
like we’re running around all day. Here at circuit court one of
our colleagues has proven he can do it better than anyone.
Doug
Pedersen, staff attorney for the court, recently completed the
grueling New York City Marathon, where 39,000 runners from around
the world took off from the starting line. More than 26 miles
later, Doug accomplished a long-time goal.
How did you get interested in long-distance
running?
I was visiting my sister in Anchorage, Alaska in August of 2001.
She told me before I came that I would have to run a 10K race
with her while I was there, so I started training in May. I had
a hard time initially running one mile but I got up to two miles
by the time of my visit, and I was able to finish a 5k (3.1 miles)
race. After that I started running races here in St. Louis two
or three times a month and over time started running longer races
- 5 miles and 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) on up to half marathons.
What do you like about running?
I feel better when I exercise regularly. My doctor has told me
that I need to exercise more for health reasons and I enjoy socializing
with other runners.
How long did it take you to finish the marathon?
It starts in Staten Island and goes through all five boroughs
- Staten Island to Brooklyn to Queens to Manhattan to the Bronx
and then back to Manhattan for the finish in Central Park. It
took me five hours and five minutes to finish. (Martin Lel of
Kenya, the marathon’s 2003 winner, won again this year with a
time of two hours and nine minutes)
How did you train for it?
I joined up with a marathon training group through the St. Louis
Track Club. We ran various distances, up to twenty miles, at different
locations in the St. Louis area every Saturday morning.
And you suffered an injury during training,
right?
I injured the cartilage in my knee. I had surgery on September
18th and was not able to run for several weeks. The marathon was
on November 4th. I tested my knee twice on a treadmill at a fitness
center in the two weeks before the marathon, but otherwise I limited
my exercise to using stationery bikes and elliptical trainers.
Has this been a life-long goal?
I've wanted to run the NYC Marathon since the mid 1970s, but I
didn't think it was a real possibility until a couple of years
ago after I had run several half marathons.
Congratulations to Doug for finishing something
that most of us wouldn’t even attempt!
