Man on the run!

All he wanted to do was lose a little weight and quit smoking.

On his 32nd birthday, Roy Pirrung started running. Ten months later he ran his first race. He hasn't stopped running since.

In The Beginning...

It all started innocently enough. A fat lady runs by the house while I am out painting my garage. I notice the gray sweat suit, stained with perspiration, and a panting overweight female that is clearly not enjoying her bout of exercise.

I look at myself a little closer, I too am conscious of my own physically poor condition. I decide that I will make a change in my own wellness by beginning to exercise and trying to regain my former condition.

The year is 1980, the day a memorable one, July seventh, my 32nd birthday. The gift, one I will never forget; the day I began to run to lose weight and keep a recently bad habit that I had broken, from returning.

A former two-pack-a-day smoker, I had noticed the effects of over a decade of smoking. I struggled for breath as I climbed a flight of stairs pulling my overweight body along at a snail''s pace.

Breaking such a habit is an accomplishment in itself, but going on and becoming "all that you can be" was even more remarkable.

Less than a year after a painful beginning to exercise, in which I could not run two city blocks that first day, and was unable to run the next day because of the lingering effects, I ran my first race.

Not a big deal, but consider this; it was not a two-mile race or a 5K, it was a marathon. I figured if I could run a marathon, the entire 26.2 miles of it, then I would be able to do anything.

I lined up at the Mayfair Marathon in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, starting and finishing at the Mayfair Mall. I was nervous, not because I had never run that far, but because I had never run with anyone before and here were hundreds of runners.

I had a great time, I experienced a lot in what I told my wife would be a one-time thing, just to see if I liked it. I ran 3 hours and 16 minutes and then went skating for a couple of hours with my daughter at the indoor ice rink.

A few weeks later I won a trophy in a 10K race, and over the course of the remaining six-months of the year ran a total of 15 races. Obviously, I had to eat my words about just running one race to see if I liked it.

As my weight gradually decreased my running talent increased. I knew that I had great potential and I was encouraged by running friends to "go for it". I took their advice.

After qualifying and running my first Boston Marathon in 1984 I was challenged to run a 50-mile race on the Ice Age Trail in the Kettle Moraine State Forest''s Southern Unit. The race put on by the Badgerland Striders Running Club, would be my first distance race beyond the marathon. It was May of 1985, I had a number of marathons under my belt, including a 2:38:47 PR and Grandma''s Marathon in Duluth, MN and I felt confident I would do well.

Unexpectedly, I finished in fifth place and was further challenged by the same individual (whom I beat) to try a 24-hour run. I had never heard of such a race and was intrigued by it. Running an entire day did not seem possible to me at the time. I was assured I could stop and even sleep if I wanted.

When I arrived the race director was issuing numbers and when I asked for one he asked if I was going to go for the record. I asked why and he explained that those going for the record would be given numbers with two digits such as 22 or 33. I did not know what the record for the state was and when he informed me it was 119 miles I said I was going for the record. By the time I asked all the double numbers were given out.

The reason the double numbers were given was that each lap would have to be recorded in hours, minutes, and seconds and initialed by the lap counter if there were to be a record breaking performance. I asked for number double zero and I was given it.

As I piled up mileage I could hear others in the race saying that I would crash and not be able to continue. They were wrong as I surpassed the state record with a national class performance of 137.99 miles. The distance earned me the number one performance in the U.S. that year.

The discovery of my unlimited stamina, and the encouragement of my supporters, led me to find out more about ultrarunning. In my research I found a race in Greece known as Spartathlon that seemed like the one that I should focus on.

Advertised as the "Original Ultramarathon" and offering participants a chance to run in the footsteps of Phidippides I could not resist. The route was from Athens to Sparta, a distance of approximately 250-kilometers (155 miles).

After finding someone who had already done it, I learned that I would need to break an American record or win a National Championship race. Once that was done I was able to contact the International Spartathlon Association to request an invitation. After receiving and filling it out, I returned it through the mail.

As the days got closer to the final Friday of September, I still had not heard from the ISA and made plans to go to the first running of the 24-hour National Championships in Atlanta, GA.

In the wake of Hurricane Gilbert, my effort produced an open and a masters American Record for 24-hours with over 148 miles covered. The race, that included a number of downpours, seemed effortless with the amount of training I had done to be able to compete in Greece.

When I called home to let my wife and family know I had won the National Championship she told me the confirmation of my entry to Spartathlon had arrived in the mail on Saturday and she almost tried to stop me from finishing the 24-hour so I would have something left for the Spartathlon. I knew it would have to wait another year.

In September of 1989 I boarded a plane bound for Athens, Greece. This would be my first in a long list of international competitions.

The thing that struck me about the event was its historical significance. Everyone knows the story of the "marathon runner" that announced the Athenian''s victory over the Persians on the Plains of Marathon before "expiring".

Few know the complete story of the runner''s route from Athens to Sparta, then on to the Plains of Marathon, and eventually the "marathon run", from there to Athens with a message for the king.

In my first attempt at the 155-mile route following in his historic footsteps, I placed fourth, the first American to crack the top ten, set and American course record of 27 hours and 8 minutes and became the first American to go under the thirty-hour barrier.

Seeing the other three step up to the medal stand was enough to make me vow to return and have my national anthem played as I received my award. After a sixth place finish the following year I took a year away from it and then returned to place third in a tie with my friend from Finland, Seppo Leinonen.

As I looked up and saw the Finnish flag and heard his national anthem I thought my dream was lost. Then the wind blew, and there on the same staff, was the American flag. Just as the award was handed to me, the sounds of my national anthem filled the amphitheater. My dream had come true and the lessons I learned to get there carried over into the new goals I set.

See you in a few miles...