(This article, reprinted with permission, featuring Michael Barr, class of 1969, appeared in The Columbus Dispatch on April 19, 2008)  4/27/08

Bexley man to run 26.2 in Boston for 30th time

Saturday,  April 19, 2008 3:19 AM
By Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

In recent years, on the third Monday of April, it has been customary for me to log on to the Boston Marathon Web site (bostonmarathon.org) and track the progress of one Michael Barr of Bexley. Barr is a friend of mine, but that doesn't make him a bad person. The day after tomorrow, he'll be running in his 30th Boston.

"This is the reason I got into running, to run the Boston Marathon," Barr said. "Anyone can qualify and go run something that's as old as the Olympics."

The Boston Marathon was founded by a former U.S. Olympic manager upon his return from the first modern Olympics, in Athens, in 1896. The first Boston was staged in 1897. Monday will mark the 112th running of the "people's Olympic race."

It has been surmised that Boston draws more international media coverage than any single-day sporting event outside of the Super Bowl. And it's for me, as soon as I can run 26.2 miles faster than 3 hours and 20 minutes, and it's for you, who are faster than I, and it's for Barr, who has run nearly 100 marathons.

Yesterday, I reached Barr on his cell phone as he was approaching Buffalo, N.Y., on his way to Boston. His wife, Nancy, was in the car with him, as was his son, Ethan, who (cough, cough) didn't quite make it to school. This is an annual family rite, visiting with Bexley expatriates in the Boston area and Mike running the marathon. One time, they watched the re-enactment of the first battle of the Revolutionary War, in Lexington. Mike was up early getting a coffee, saw the redcoats approaching and rousted his children by yelling, "The British are coming!"

Barr said the feeling of tradition, and the special quality of the event, is present as soon as runners begin congregating for the bus ride out to Hopkinton. It takes more than an hour to get out there, and Barr takes nefarious glee in patting first-timers on the back and saying, "Man, we've got to run all the way back."

"Hopkinton is this little town and it is geared for a whole year to this one day," Barr said. "The elite runners meet in a graveyard behind this ancient church and read the headstones. Back when Johnny Kelley was alive, he used to go from group to group, and sing bawdy Irish songs, and everyone would roar."

Kelley won Boston in 1935 and 1945. He also posted 18 top-10 finishes and came in second seven times. "Heartbreak Hill" was named for him in 1936, when he passed the leader there and patted his back -- an affront that drove the man to hunt down Kelley, and beat him, and break his heart.

Kelley ran Boston 61 times. He died, at age 97, in 2004. A statue of him stands at the foot of Heartbreak Hill, in front of the Newton City Hall. Before Barr reaches that valley, he and 20,000 of his best friends will go through the "scream tunnel" at Wellesley College, where the all-female student body stays in full throat for hours.

"Wellesley is great -- ow!" Barr said, as Nancy punched him in the arm.

Then, there are the four hills, including the Heartbreak. After that, there's the turnaround in Cleveland Square, and a straight shot to Copley Square. Red Sox fans will pour out of Fenway Park after the traditional Patriot's Day morning game, and they will mob Kenmore Square to urge the runners through the last mile. All told, at least a half-million spectators will line the course. I've been in the throng a few times.

Barr, 57, won't equal his best time (2:25 in 1983), but he aims at being near the top of his grand masters (runners 50 and older) flight. All those days of running from his restaurant, Crater's, on South High to the Horseshoe, and back, they all are geared toward this, for the 30th time.

"If you qualify, you should run," he said. "I treat it that way every year. I treat it like it might be my last time, every time."

I'll be checking his splits, and then I'll go for a jog. I swear, I'll go for a jog.

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