Ted Callinan

"How poor are they that have not patience!What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
Thou know'st we work by wit, and not by witchcraft; And wit depends on dilatory time."
As a high school English teacher, Ted Callinan could easily identify and identify with this quote from Shakespeare's Othello.
Patience is a virtue that Ted has displayed in a consistenly excellent running career from his freshman year at Gloucester Catholic ,winning the South Jersey Frosh cross country title in 1988 to a sparkling 7th place 49:41 finish in the 2007 Broad Street run (ten miles). Ted has displayed patience and plenty of talent in fulfilling his potential. From his Meet of Champions races at Gloucester Catholic, to his outstanding collegiate career at Brandeis (where Ted graduated with an English and American Literature degree in 1996), to his post collegiate career, Ted has been able to maintain his high level of performance for close to 20 years. Ted the middle child among five Callinan boys, is a 1992 graduate of Gloucester Catholic (NJ) High School. Ted followed his brother Chris (1988), also an outstanding runner at GC. Chris is presently a track and cross-country coach at Cherokee.
Ted currently resides in Haddon Township where his average training week is 100 miles.
Ted's PR's also include: 3:51 for 1500 meters
14:19 for 5000 meters 23:47 for 8000 meters (approx. five miles)
1:06.39 for the half marathon at the the Phila Distance Run and
a sparkling 2:21.22 at the Phila marathon.
Teds favorite workouts share the basic outline of Coach Jack Daniels training system: 5 x a mile on the track with 1 minute rest then a hard ten miles on the road or 2 x 2 miles then the 10 hard road miles or even 3 x 2 miles with the hard 10 mile to follow.
Ted's favorite pre race meals are bagels, Gatorade, Power Bars and Snickers Marathon bars.
His running philosophy: "I had a t-shirt that I wore a good deal as a Freshman at GC. It had a sketch of a guy running on a winding, hilly road. It read: "The road is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running."

Catching up with Walt Pierson, South Jersey Masters Champ

“We’ve been through some things together
With trunks of memories still to come.
We found things to do in stormy weather
Long may you run. Long may you run.
Neil Young-- “Long May You Run"

If you’ve run any races in South Jersey in the past 30 years, you’ve heard one name announced over and over at the post-race award ceremonies—Walt Pierson.
Pierson, a West Deptford native now 72 often finishes first in the over 70 category at his races just as he has for much of the last 30 years in all his preceeding age groups. Walt and his wife Kay (pictured at right) love to travel and have visited much of the world including China, most of Europe and New Zealand. It hasn’t been an easy journey for the dedicated runner. While in New Zealand five years ago, Walt had a stroke. The stroke left him with no deficits-- possibly due to his superb fitness. He continues to run. He has had four stents placed in his heart and one in his renal artery. He continues to run. Walt has also survived a bout with prostrate cancer. None of this has slowed him down.
Wife Kay: “Each time he had a "minor health disaster" his first question to his doc was: "When can I run?" He always followed their advice - and here he is still running each day and loving it. Walter has run 60,000 miles as of last April 20th (his deceased Mother's birthday) and that is 2 and one half times around the world!!!! He started keeping records of his running at age 38. He constantly amazes me.”

We decided to ask the amazing Walt some questions to see just what makes him tick:
How long have you been running?
Walt: 34 years. I started when I was 38 and I’m now 72.
Any idea how many races you've run?
Walt: I have run in over 600 races since my first one in 1979.
Tell us about your birthday runs.
Walt: When I turned 47 I ran 47 miles in one day from West Deptford to Alloway and back with a break for lunch in Alloway. From age 48 to 52 I ran the miles starting at 6AM and finishing at 6 PM in various increments such as 10 miles, 5miles etc, with a break between each increment. My wife, Kay, ran an open house all day long and several friends joined me for one or more runs and Kay's good food. It was fun. (Note- Browning Ross and I participated in a few of Walt’s birthday runs and they were so much fun I decided to emulate his idea. However I re-evaluated and quickly dropped the plans once I passed my 21 st birthday!)
What is/was your favorite race?
Walt: I have lots of favorite races. I will only mention a few:Any of Browning’s races as they were so unpredictable. The N.Y. marathon. The Broad St. Run. The Bread and Cheese run. Pitman 4th of July. Cooper River Thanksgiving race. Your Mt. Ephraim race—the Ross Kupcha race is a good one.
What is your favorite running route?
Walt: I have a different route every day on a 7 day cycle out of our house.
How much do you run a week now?
Walt: I am currently running between 30 and 40 miles a week.
What did you like best about Browning's races?
Walt: Browning's races were so unique. There were low key but drew some good runners. All finishers got a prize, sometimes a pair of sox, a bag of used golf balls,10 pounds of potatoes, a recycled trophy, a book by Tom Osler and other goodies. There was always a good spirit with no emphasis on exact times or distances. It was cheap. Kids ran free which is a tradition that you continue and I congratulate you for it.
What are your running goals today?
Walt: Just today (when recently interviewed) I completed my latest goal. I have finished 60,000 miles of running. Over the years I have always kept a log book. Beyond that I don't have any goals. Maybe I'll quit.
Is this too many questions?
Walt: No that wasn't too many questions. I hope my answers didn't ramble too much.

No way Walt-- long may you run!

The Power of the Mind

Did you ever have an injury that was slow to heal? An injury that you couldn't trace back to any particular physical incident. An injury that didn't seem to heal with rest and traditional treatment methods? This injury was real, and may even have affected your running. In cases like this, there are some who believe it might have been your mind that caused the injury due to tension or stress, and your mind that holds the key to the cure. One of the leading pioneers in the study of the mind and its relation to injuries is John E. Sarno, MD. Dr. Sarno has written a number of best selling books on the subject, including his latest book the "The Divided Mind".
Dr Sarno, who was once the feature of an ABC "20 /20" feature, has had thousands of patients who swear by his treatments including athletes and high profile patients like radio disc jockey Howard Stern. Stern was so grateful for the 83 year old Dr. Sarno's help in overcoming persistent back pain that he dedicated one of his books to him.
Another person who has been helped by Dr Sarno is Marc Bloom, one of the best writers on running in the country and the publisher of "The Harrier"-- the premier cross country magazine in the country http://www.blogger.com/ . Marc had this to say about Dr. Sarno's latest book:

""The Divided Mind" is the latest and best book yet from the revolutionary and courageous mind-body specialist, Dr. John E. Sarno, a physician at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine of NYU Medical Center. Sarno's theories of health and pain are directly opposite from virtually the entire medical profession--and at odds with what our society believes about health and wellness. So don't expect your local doctor or just about anyone else to agree with his theories and accept his patient success. In a nutshell, Sarno believes that pain throughout the body, and especially to the low back, shoulders, neck and knees, is caused not by anything organic but by one's thoughts and emotions.
So the national low back pain epidemic, for example, has nothing whatsoever to do with herniated discs and everything to do with emotions like anger, rage and resentment. A lot of our negative feelings stem from childhood. Sarno's views can many implications for runners; your injuries may not stem from physical reasons but from emotions. Certain personality types are particularly vulnerable to what Sarno terms TMS: Tension Myositis Syndrome.
But anyone can be affected, and almost any part of the body can be affected. "The Divided Mind" contains chapters from a number of doctors in different specialties who believe in Sarno's ideas and treat their patients (those who will let them) with this mind-body approach. Read the book. In my opinion, it's the best and most important health book ever written.
Sarno's ideas could have a tremendous impact on our society and the ever-growing health care crisis, if only more people and health professionals would try to learn from him."

Because of the difficulty in performing clinical trials to prove or disprove Dr Sarno's hypothesis, it is unlikely mainstream medical science will completely adopt his methods any time soon. Still, Dr. Sarno's methods are worth investigating for those who have learned through experience the undeniably powerful role the mind plays in healing the body.

Gloucester Catholic Cross Country Pictures 2007

Pictures of the 2007 Gloucester Catholic Cross Country Team. Click on a picture to see a larger image.