Maybe the best way to train is to have your parents create a racing team for you. Robert Marino of Annapolis, MD grew up with six brothers who raced. Growing up in the Philadelphia metro area Marino competed in many brother versus brother relay races. His brothers taught him how to lose well and how to run well enough to win often. His older brother Jerry was one of the top high school runners in Philadelphia in the early '60s. Vince was the New Jersey state high school champion in the mile. He improved to a 4:12 mile in college. The twins, William and Michael, both ran 4:20 miles and sub 2:00 for 800 meters. John was a 4:15 miler in high school Today he is a chiropractor active in running circles. David was a varsity cross-country runner. Robert commes by his talent naturally.

Marino started out fast with a 2:17 800M for his first race as a twelve-year-old. By high school he had improved to be the four- time State Mile Champion with a 4:16 best. At Mansfield State in Pennsylvania he lowered his mile to 4:15. Other college bests include 1:54 for 800M, 14:44 for 5K, 31:02 for 10K, and 51:15 for 10M.

He gets a lot of support from his running family although each one has a different training method. He is often told to tame his mileage. Marino feels he needs seventy to eighty miles a week to maintain top conditioning. With all his brothers excelling in the mile, surprisingly Marino runs the longer distances very well.

He debuted his marathon running in Las Vegas where he ran a 2:27:22 in 1987. He has a number of sub 2:30 marathons to his credit. His fastest marathon was the 1987 St. George Marathon in 2:24:52. He also ran the 100th Boston in 2:29:57 at age thirty- eight.

He lowered his own Northern Central Trail Marathon course record from 2:29:27 in 1992 to 2:25:18 in 1995. I remember talking to him during the first mile of the race in 5:45. I was running too fast at the start and he was just getting a feel for the course. He asked me what I thought my pace would be. When I said I hoped to do six minutes a mile, he smiled and jetted away.

In the past two years Marino has worked hard to be a nationally ranked master's runner. He produced his 10-mile PR in the Spring of 1995, running 51:05 at Broad Street in Philadelphia. One of his first efforts upon turning forty was a master's course record 15:45 at the Washington's Birthday 5K in February. The following week in Columbia he set a pending state single age record of 54:14 while winning outright the tough MD RRCA 10 Mile Challenge.

Running hard and often seems to work for Marino. He ran 1:11:59 for second overall at the B&A Trail HM. A week later he topped an elite master's field at the St. Paddy's Day 10K in 33:05. The next weekend he glided down to the Shamrock Marathon for a third overall payday in 2:29:04. Two weeks later he "experimented" with racing on marathon legs at the Cherry Blossom 10M. He promises to improve on his fourth place age group finish in 54:34.