Tennessee Appellate Court Clerk Mike Catalano has qualified to compete April 19 in the 107 th annual Boston Marathon, the oldest and most prestigious 26.2 mile road race.
To be eligible, participants must run qualifying times, based on their ages, at certified marathons. The number of participants is limited to 20,000 for the Boston race, which is held on Patriot’s Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts.
“I’ve been running since 1988 and have completed 11 marathons, including the Boston Marathon twice,” Catalano said. “ Boston is also one of the hardest marathons to run. The first 13 miles of Boston are downhill. That sounds great, but it pounds your quads. Plus, there are a series of hills that begin around mile 16 culminating with Heartbreak Hill which is a mile-long steep hill that goes from mile 20 to mile 21.”
Catalano said the race takes runners through seven different towns with crowds of onlookers typically numbering about 750,000 – many of them “having one incredible party.” As runners pass Wellesley College, the women students have a tradition of creating the Wall of Scream where several thousand of them “scream continually,” he said.
“In addition, it is an unwritten tradition at Wellesley that a female student must do 50 things before graduation,” the appellate court clerk said. “One of those 50 things is to kiss a marathon runner during the Boston Marathon. Students will hold up signs saying, ‘Kiss me. I’m a senior.’”
As Catalano ran in his second Boston Marathon, he noticed a Wellesley woman holding a different sign – one that read, “Kiss me if you’re from Tennessee.”
“I couldn't resist,” he recalled. “So, I ran over and planted a big one on her and said, ‘I'm from Nashville.’ She totally freaked and then laughed. I tipped my hat and ran on.”
Catalano said his goal this year is to beat his best previous Boston Marathon time.
“My best Boston was 3:49:12, which isn't very good,” he said.