Dan Murray could be called the prodigal son of racing. At times, he lost touch with the sport. At times, he embraced it. After a 14-year lapse, Murray got back on the roads two years ago. This time he plans to stay around, he says.

Murray, who lives in Keswick, VA, has established himself in the top tier of masters division runners in the state and perhaps on the East Coast. For the last two years, he has finished in the top of his age group, 55 to 59, in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler in Washington, D.C. Last year, he placed first in 59 minutes 44 seconds, a sub-6-minute mile pace. Still a member of the West Chester Track Club in New York although he no longer lives in the state, Murray ran 29:46 in the 2002 New York Road Runners Club Championship 8K, winning his age group.

Murray remembers days when he was faster. But time and age have forced him to take a new approach to the sport. "My primary focus now is feeling good," he said. "I enjoy very much just running along the Rivanna River here. I don't need somebody to start the stopwatch."

Murray competed in cross-country and track for his New York high school and ran in the top five on the cross-country team as a freshman at Villanova University. Arch, knee, and heel injuries kept him from completing his college running career. He quit racing after his freshman year.

Ten years later, tennis surprisingly turned Murray back to running. "In the New York winters, you can't play tennis, so it was June or July by the time you were in shape," Murray said. "So after two years of tennis I said, 'This winter I will start running so when April comes, I will be in shape to play tennis.' I haven't played tennis since."

Murray hit his prime racing years in his 30s to mid-40s. He was one of the original members of what is now the West Chester Track Club in New York, which began in 1976. Mike Barnow, who has coached nine Olympians, is head of the club, which has about 600 members and is one of the largest in New York.

Barnow, who still coaches Murray, said Murray was "one of our best distance runners all through the 1970s." Most noteworthy was Murray's victory at the 1979 Yonkers Marathon in New York, a race known for its challenging, hilly terrain. He finished in 2:27. "It's a hard course," Barnow explained. "A 2:27 on that course is worth 2:22 or 2:23 on a reasonably easy course."

Murray did run 2:22 in the Boston Marathon that same year, just before he and his family moved to California, where he ran his fastest 8K in Fresno, CA, in 24:18. He tied the fastest 8K time for a masters division runner at the time.

But soon, Murray's running and work schedule became too much for him. He said his job as a tax lawyer took "a lot of time and effort," time and effort that he could not spend on running. So, for the second time in his life, Murray quit racing.

"I continued to do a little jogging over the years, about five to ten miles a week," he said. "People said it must be hard to stop competing. But it's easy not to get up and run nine miles as hard as you can before you go to work."

Fourteen years passed. Murray and his wife moved to Keswick. With self-employment and a flexible schedule, Murray, then 56, decided it was time to get serious about running again.

He joined a group of Charlottesville area runners every Saturday for a ten-mile run. Bill Guerrant (52), of Batesville, VA, said Murray is "clearly capable of setting the pace for anyone who comes out" to the Saturday runs. Guerrant said the ten to twenty Saturday morning runners are around age 40.

Guerrant remembers first meeting Murray at the Martha Jefferson 8K in Charlottesville just after Murray moved to the area. "I pulled away on a hill and left him. That was the last race where that might have happened," he said. "I haven't seen anybody take so much time away from the sport and come back with the success that he has," continued Guerrant, who has been running for the last 25 years.

Murray, who races 5 and 10-milers and 8Ks, said he has adjusted his racing goals from earlier years. He used to run in the low 15 minutes for 5Ks when he was in his 40s. Now, he'd like to break 17:30 and hit the low 28-minute range for 5 miles. He ran 28:48 for 5 miles in Virginia Beach in March.

"I've had to set my sights a whole lot lower," Murray explained. "As you get older, it's hard to be able to run faster."

Barnow said it is important for older runners to realize that their bodies might not be able to handle the same levels of training as they could in their younger days. "When you were very good early, you try in some ways to get it back," he said. "But you're a different person now. Forget about what you used to do. You have to under-train a little bit."

Murray said he tries to enjoy running for what it is. He cross trains at least two days a week, riding a stationary bike or using the stair climber. He runs about 40 miles a week. "I just enjoy the feeling that I get from running, whether I want to run a race every two or three weeks or not," he said. "I find that to be the most relaxing part of the day for mental and physical well-being."

Still, Murray hasn't lost his competitive drive. Before he retires from racing, he said he would like to win a national championship for the masters division at some distance, possibly at 5,000 meters or 8K.

Barnow said a national championship for Murray is possible. "He certainly is the best in the country right now at the 58-year- old division," Barnow said. "He is highly motivated. The fires are still there."

Aside from those "fires," Murray said he's keeping competition in perspective. He is just happy to be back in the sport. "The goal for me is to want to be able to compete even though I don't run very well," he said. "If you can do that, it's a win-win situation. It's something you have to learn."