It is a truism of road racing that runners generally improve their times for five to seven years before reaching their peak. John Piggott, 36, of Newport News has been a prolific racer on the roads of the Virginia Peninsula for seventeen years, yet he is still setting personal records.

While he started out running lots of 5K races, Piggott now excels at the marathon and half marathon distances. He has run his best at both distances in 2001, with a 2:30:45, good for seventh overall, at the SunTrust Richmond Marathon in November (second from Virginia, behind Tim Covington), and a 1:11:16 (Pomoco Group/Hampton Coliseum, leading his three-person Colonial Road Runners team to a narrow 42-second victory over Final Kick Sports), and 1:11:52 (Anheuser-Busch Colonial) for the two February half marathons. His previous 13.1-mile bests had been 1:11:53 and 1:11:57 ('98 Mulberry Island at Fort Eustis).

Piggott was a 1983 graduate of Lafayette High School in Williamsburg, where he didn't start running until his senior year and the outdoor track season (he had played football his freshman year). "I didn't want to run the sprints, so I went with the distance squad," said Piggott, who showed lots of potential in his first season with bests of 2:00 (half mile), 4:39 (mile) and 10:00 (two mile). Despite that success, Piggott wasn't sold on running. "I hated running. I was glad outdoor track was over."

It wasn't until his military days in the U.S. Navy, while stationed in Norfolk and Brooklyn (from 1983-89, with four years of active duty and two years in the reserves), that Piggott fell in love with running. Now, he says, "As long as I can run, I'll always run. I may not always be winning." Winning road races has been second nature for Piggott, who has won more Peninsula Track Club and Colonial Road Runners races than anyone else in the past two decades. His lifetime first-place count is now at 102 races, after wins at Williamsburg's Lake Matoaka Trail Challenge 4.3 miler in August, the Norfolk Half Marathon in October, and the F.O.P. 10 Miler in Virginia Beach in November (one week before Richmond). In the seven years of the Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix, Piggott has won four overall titles (1995-96-98-99), good for a $200 savings bond each year.

While it took a dozen years after high school for Piggott to be convinced to run his first marathon, he now loves the event, and has completed eight marathons, including four Richmonds, three Shamrocks, and one Marine Corps. His debut marathon came at Richmond in 1995 (2nd overall, 2:44:04), followed in Richmond by his one marathon disaster (calf cramps and four miles walking led to a 3:19:02 in '96), a fifth-place in '99 (2:36:21, $100 prize money), and this year's 2:30:45. His three at Shamrock have been in '98 (2:39:22), '99 (2:33:29, his previous PR, 5th place, $200 prize money) and '00 (2:38:16). His one Marine Corps was a 2:37:36 in 2000.

Until this year, Piggott had run a number of high 1:11 and 1:12 half marathons (Hampton, Colonial, and Mulberry Island), before breaking through with his 1:11:16. His bests at other distances are 56:23 (10.6 miles, two loops of the Newport News Bikeway course), 53:55 ('92 Watermen's Museum 10 Miler in Yorktown), 43:15 (Carter's Grove 8 Miler in Williamsburg), 33:17 ('98 Bay Days 10K in Hampton) and 33:19 ('99 Elizabeth River Run 10K in Norfolk), 26:09 ('98 Phoebus Days 8K in Hampton), 25:56 (William and Mary 8K cross country) and 15:47 ('94 Freedom's Fortress 5K at Fort Monroe). Piggott has had at least a half dozen other 5Ks in the 15:50s.

After growing up in Williamsburg, Piggott moved to Newport News in 1997, and has worked there for Canon, a plumbing firm, and currently for the City of Newport News. His goals for 2002 include going sub-16 again for the 5K, and running sub-33 (10K), sub-53 (10 miles), sub-1:10 (half marathon) and sub-2:30 (marathon). Training for the marathon, Piggott reached 85 miles per week this fall, his most ever (he usually runs 50-60 miles per week).

After his breakthrough 2001, look for more PRs in 2002.