Tag Archives: The Boston Marathon

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Remembering Boston

Hot Harry Kirsch- our fearless leader.

So I was watching the Boston Marathon highlights this past week and was amazed at the times of the winning male and female runners. Incredible, would be the actual word to describe the speed and fitness of these athletes. I texted back and forth with my friend Mary Jo Neff, and we had a lot of laughs about our crew from North Park who ran, and also of our fearless leader Hot Harry Kirsch. Harry was a Marine and always organized the marathon trips to Boston and the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. Lots of people were part of Hot Harry’s North Park Runners and eventually made it to one or more marathons with Harry.

My finishers medal back in the day.

Harry always had names for everyone. Mary Jo and I laughed about that. Water Bottle Bob, Bushy Debbie, Big Nose Bill, Sad Bill, and a host of other names which would identify people who ran out of Stone Field. One day, Jack Mook, the police chief for Sewickley and a former city of Pittsburgh detective, came up to me and said,” Pat- how would you like to run the Boston Marathon?” ” I am injured and will not be able to run.” Being a cyclist who only ran in the winter, I was hesitant but then thought what the heck- and I answered in the affirmative. Jack said great and got me all the information I needed and I was off to start training to do something I had never done. I had not qualified but got the chance to run with Jack’s number. I wanted the experience and began a serious winter training program culminating in my 20 mile run around the lake in a raging snowstorm and missing a great day of skiing to do it.

Joan Benoit Samuelson – a gracious champion

Fast forward and I was on the plane with Les Brodie, Hot Harry, and Carl Trimbur who all would be my room mates for the event. Lots of people from North Park were in attendance and were experienced runners. I had run my fair share of 10K events ,but I was mostly a cyclist and a lot of the folks chuckled with my audacity to run one of the most famous marathons in the world. But I was excited and Les, Hot Harry and Carl made it special for me with tips and suggestions for the race. It was hard for Les to sleep so he made his way to the closet in the room because Harry snored like a chainsaw. Carl and I bunked in a queen bed with me on the edge so as not to come too close to Carl. Kind of weird but that was the arrangement that Harry made. We all had some laughs about that room especially when right after the marathon, the elevators broke down and we had to climb the stairs.

Moving on to the Nike expo, I stood in line to meet Joan Benoit Samuelson, the Olympic Marathon Champion, and truly wonderful person. So humble and unassuming, it turned out that we had a mutual friend – Jace Pasquale. Jace coached ski racing in New Hampshire, and knew Joan from her ski racing days. Joan was so interested in finding out how Jace was doing that we held up the line for quite some time- much to the chagrin of the people behind me. But Joan was so nice and all she wanted to talk about was our friend Jace. So cool to meet her and talk to her.

The morning of the race, I boarded the school bus to the starting line, and as we made our way from downtown Boston out 26 miles to the start at Hopkinton, I started to get a little nervous seeing that I was on that bus for what seemed to be an eternity. Wondering if I was going to be able to make it back. Turns out Sad Bill Schillinger was kind enough to run with me, and he gave me tips along the way like drinking something at every water stop and eating an orange slice or two when offered by the volunteers. He also told me to slow down as we came through Wellesley College to the throngs of college girls who came out annually to cheer on the runners. You could hear them from a mile away and I was so excited that Bill laughed and said ‘ slow down or you will be in trouble.” Those girls got me pumped and I was in a sprint on the campus thinking I was Frank Shorter. LOL!!

Fenway Park was close to the end, and I was hurting a little bit as I saw the famous Green Monster, but Bill assured me that we were almost finished and to give it one more big effort. We ran across the finish line in 3:17 which I thought was respectable for a rookie and when I think that today’s winners could go back to the hotel, take a shower, eat some lunch and come back out to greet us, it shows the respect I have for them. World class runners are amazing.

Harry and the girls at one of his birthday parties.

Walking down the stairs the next day was a challenge, and I had to walk backwards most of the way in the hotel and in the subway. I didn’t realize that the pounding your legs take running downhill after the Newton Hills would be so debilitating. The North Parkers were slightly impressed with my time after initially chuckling at me, and I did not embarrass Jack Neff. But perhaps the most amazing thing I learned about Hot Harry that weekend was how light he packed. He only carried a small running bag with an extra singlet, pair of running shorts and a toothbrush. That’s it. All the way from Pittsburgh to Boston and back. Harry was a true character, and we all miss him since his passing a few years ago.

Thinking this week of the fun times I had in Boston made me appreciate all the great people I have known through the years from our local park. We are all getting older, but have managed to somehow hold ourselves together with the occasional aches and pains, hip and knee replacements, and other age- related ailments. But, I have been very fortunate in that regard and trying to hang in for as long as I can. Like the really fast times of the champions this year at the marathon, times change in life too. Enjoy your people that you do things with and keep up the accountability for each other. There are no guarantees. Make the most of it. You will have a lot of good memories too, like I do. Long live Hot Harry’s North Park Runners. Thanks for reading.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 3:13-14 The runners verse,

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Christmas Carol

Decided to post a little early this week to honor Mother’s Day and a happy day to all you dedicated moms out there. This is a picture of my mom, my sister Molly, and me back in the day. My mother was a character to say the least and here are a few anecdotes to honor her on Mother’s Day.

First off, my mom loved Molly and me unconditionally, but loved my father first and foremost. Seems like that is the recipe for a happy marriage to put your spouse first and then the kids. My mom must have really loved my father because she did so much for Molly and me. Imagine how dedicated she was to my father if she treated us so well? But again- getting back to the fact that she was a character. My mother had perfect pitch and was always singing at parties. She had a beautiful voice and the main reason I kept playing the piano as a kid was to accompany her singing. Walking in the rain and the snow to my piano lessons was all worth it when I heard my mom sing. In later years, when I parked cars at Shannopin Country Club, I was ready to call it a night when I heard my mom start to sing. I told the boys we better order a pizza because it was going to be a long night. When my mom started to sing, we were there for the duration.

Mom and yours truly at Lake Erie.

I remember when I first learned to swim. I was afraid to take my deep- water test at 5 years old and my mom looked at Don Geyer and told him to throw me in. She knew I could swim, and she knew I had to overcome my fears. Much to the horror of her friends who were all sitting poolside in hysterectomy row, she told them all that the water would get deeper and deeper every year. When I swam to the side with a big smile on my face, my mom looked at me and said,” You can do anything you want to do in life, Patrick.” And then she told Don to throw me off the diving boards.

I used to swim at the Northside Y, and one night when my dad picked me up, I told him I saw the police come into the lobby and chase down a guy with a knife that had stabbed someone. It was fairly alarming to a young guy, but my mom told me that life was not all about the suburbs. She had no problem with me witnessing the other side of the tracks. Same when I worked at St. Joe Paper Company as a laborer in the summers during college. I told her all about the shenanigans in the “bottoms” of McKees Rocks and she once again told me that it was good for me and would teach me how to deal with all kinds of people. She was right.

Young Pat with the ski outfit put together by my mom. LOL!!

My mother was not much of an outdoors person or athletic for that matter. But she made sure my sister and I learned to swim, play tennis, and ski. I always joke when people ask me if my parents skied. I said “no” for my dad who had a bad back and yes for my mother. She skied 3 feet. When she fell back and hit her head, she told her friend Virginia Ruth to” “take the damn things off”. But she made sure Molly and I learned. When Bob Rose used to pick us up for the weekend, she cooked our dinner on Friday at 3:00 and made sure we were ready to go when Mr. Rose was in the driveway. Then she entertained the whole lot with pots of chili when we all got back on Sunday.

I was able to drive my mother’s ’64 Buick Special convertible in high school. My dad outfitted it with heavy snow tires and concrete bags in the trunk for the winter. On a snow day, my mom said, ” school is cancelled- are you going skiing?” Kind of hilarious in that she knew that I was hell bent to go skiing in those instances and she was fully supportive. Ever since she rear -ended a garbage truck, she was hesitant to drive and eventually quit. Giving me her car was the perfect excuse. But again, whatever she could do to support us as our mother was readily apparent.

My mother loved Christmas. In fact, all her friends called her Christmas Carol in that she always orchestrated a huge Christmas Eve party at our house every year. It was so well attended and was a lot of work for all of us, but relatives, friends, and neighbors were all welcome. Eventually, I told my mom that if she kept inviting people, we would have to switch the venue from our house to a banquet hall. We all laughed at that, but my mom was intent on always entertaining year- round, but especially at Christmas. She gave a lot of people a lot of happiness in those years and some of them really needed the friendship and the care. She always told me that ” happiness is like a perfume. You can’t sprinkle it on others without getting a little on yourself.” Her friends and relatives were everything to her and her dedication to their happiness was heartwarming.

The house on Pineview Drive. The Christmas Eve venue

In later years, my mom didn’t understand my love for competition and events. I ran the Boston Marathon one year and I remember sitting on my parent’s deck at the house and was so excited to relay my experience. The crowds on Commonwealth Ave., the Newton Hills, the Wellesley College girls screams heard miles away, the finish near Fenway Park and the Green Monster welcoming us home. My mom looked at me and said, ” well that’s nice- would you like some more potatoes?” She just didn’t get it, but ironically, she started it all. I would come home from Tuckerman Ravine after camping and skiing for a week and explaining the steepness of the terrain and the chunks of ice and rock that fell which were the size of a Volkswagen. She would look at me with kind of a blank look and say- ” more potatoes?”

My mom had lots of friends as she was fond of saying ” to have a friend is to be a friend.” In the end days when she was receiving lots of blood transfusions, she was always positive. She said she just got up in the morning, washed her face, and kept going. Nothing stopped her. She used to look at me when I walked her up the steps after my dad had passed and she would laugh and say ” how the hell did I get so damn old.” Even when she was quite ill, she and Mary Struk and Sally Rose would go to the “club” which was Grant’s Bar in Millvale. She loved Grant’s Bar and one day when the big flood came, the police came into the bar and basically kicked them all out saying, ” if you ladies don’t leave now, we will be taking you out in a row- boat.” The ice machine from the Grant Bar was floating down the street minutes later. The gals got out just in time.

My mom was a character but if it were not for her persistence, I don’t know whether I would have had the exuberance that I have for skiing, and other outdoor endeavors. She always pushed me, and I am forever grateful that she did. I enjoy a lot of things because of my mom. I miss her as she had been gone 20 years. But I will always remember her smile, her beautiful voice, her fabulous meals, and her kindness to friends and relatives. Someday I will see her again – forever. In the meantime- Happy Mother’s Day in Heaven mom. Thanks for reading and always cherish your mom.

The relatives. Looks like Molly was upset with me. LOL!!