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|  Glen Mays Promoting the Job on the Road...Health Care and Fitness By George Banker May/June 2004 For the Washington Running Report
He stated, "The focus on public health looks at ways to achieve
a healthier society, it comes to motivation and having support.
Running plays an important part in addressing health problems
and changing people's behavior and lifestyles. Running is a good
model; you can start off slow and then progress." Little Rock has found out what we already know around here. On
March 7, 2004, while house hunting, Mays entered the 2nd Annual
Little Rock Marathon. The top local, Justin Radke, may not have
liked the circumstances under which he had to meet a new
neighbor at mile 19 where he lost the lead. The local newspaper painted the picture, "He was maybe 20 to 30
seconds behind me, and he was coming on," Radka said. "I knew he
was coming. There was no mistake about it. I was thinking, 'He's
catching me. When he does, I have to hang with him. I have to
hang with him.' But when he caught me, he just went 'boom,' and
it was over." Mays set a new course record with 2:34:33, the old record was
2:36:53, and Radke was second with 2:37:33. It may take a while
before Mays can go and borrow some sugar from his neighbor. Thoughts from the Little Rock Marathon, "I learned more about
the value of patience. I had not tapered going into the race and
I was pretty tired and didn't have the race effort. I was
surprised early with the hills. I just stayed in the race and
steady. The leader came back to me and I concentrated on the
challenge at hand. It's always fun catching someone at the end." Mays' local running efforts are supported by the store Potomac
River Running, which has made a difference to him. "Ray and
Cathy [Pugsley] have been great, I used to compete against Ray
while he was at Dartmouth and I was at Brown. They are committed
and the store is important to the running community." Turning the clock back; at age 7 in a small rural town in
Richfield, North Carolina (about 40 miles from Charlotte), one
evening he saw a farmer running past his house and saw him again
the next evening. He started to run with him and the farmer
eventually lost 70 to 80 pounds. There was two-mile loop which
they ran and then they progressed to entering road races. At RJ
Reynolds High School (Winston-Salem 1984-1988) Mays' running
began to take shape. In 1987 he placed second (15:47) in the NC
High School 4-A XC Championship. He won the state championship,
NC High School 4-A Outdoor Track Championship, 3200m, in a time
of 9:21. This was that shining light that made him realize he
had something. There is some type of athlete in every person and what keeps him
in control? "Running has always been a key motivator. I've
always been fascinated with incremental improvements. What
drives me is the competition. I love the challenge and the
strategy and how things play out in the body. It's important to
train with people," he stated. The working athlete has to make the most of every day and manage
his time. As he knows, "It's hard to balance the work and
running. I have zero commute. I live close to the office and we
have showers so I run to work and back home in the evenings. My
training is either early morning or late at night." Jesse Williams had a chance to tangle with Mays at his defense
(2002-54:52) on February 22nd at the 25th RRCA Ten Mile Club
Challenge at Howard Community College. Mays worked some more
magic, "It was a half-mile out I decided to drop it down. I was
worried and knew it was a gamble, Williams was covering my
moves. It was the kind of race you live for, good competition.
It was a tough course with a strong headwind." Mays
continued, "I love the competition, no matter where you are in
training it's a chance to test yourself. I never get tired of
that." The competition around Washington and Boston is great; there is
an amazing running community. On any given day you don't know
who will show up. The local caliber is good and they are serious
about running. Moving up to the marathon was a big move for Mays and he is
still learning how to run them. He feels that he has not got one
right out of the five he has run. It's not always about the
winning, but I'm sure it's nice. In preparing for a marathon Mays uses a 12-week build up with
about 100-mile weeks with a maximum of 115 miles. He does a
track workout on a Wednesday night and the next day does a tempo
run. Mays has completed five marathons and Boston 2004 will make six.
1st (2:27:13-PR) Greensboro Marathon - NC 1994 Mays attended Brown University in Providence, RI (1988-1992) and
posted the best times of: 3000m indoors 8:23, and 10,000m
outdoor 30:08. A few collegiate times include: 1990 Heptagonals XC Championship 8th place (2nd team All-Ivy) Mays' post-collegiate PRs One can conclude that Mays has a full range of motion and has
the ability to move up and down the scale while maintaining that
competitive balance. The only safe competitor is the one who
does not step up to the line. 5K Performances: 10K Performances: 15K Performances: 10Mi Performances: 20K Performances: Misc. Performances: On July 10, 2003, a new One-Hour track record was set for DC
Road Runners Club and Mays tops the list of 156 competitors
since 1991 with a distance of 17,700 meters (about 11.17 miles). At the St. Patrick's Day 10K (3/14/04) he stated, "I wanted to
get a chance to turn my legs over and to teach my body how to
run when I am fatigued." In 2000 Mays was awarded the Academy Health Dissertation Award
while at the University of North Carolina, the School of Public
Health, finishing up his Ph.D. Mays is up for the challenge in the field of health care
research and on the field of play during athletic competition.
Little Rock has seen his calling card and it's their gain and
our loss. He made numerous races interesting and, if he lost,
any of his opponents earned their position. He does what he does
best on both fronts. We all wish Glen and Brynn the very best as we see them off
to "Rock in Little Rock," and a few years from now, if a runner
sees the white singlet with Potomac River Running going past in
the closing miles, just say, "he's back."
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