A fixture of the Tufts President's Marathon Challenge (PMC) team for the past five years, University President Lawrence Bacow opted to sit out the Boston Marathonthis year, citing scheduling and health reasons.
"I decided not to run this year for a few reasons," Bacow wrote in an e-mail to the Daily. "First, I knew I was going to have a brutal travel schedule ... I have been on the road 26 days just since March 1, which is peak training time. And second, I thought I would give my body a bit of a rest. I have now done five marathons, and at 56, I don't recover as quickly."
Despite not joining the rest of the PMC on the 26.2-mile course between Hopkinton and Boston, Bacow has remained very much involved with the team in terms of participating during training and providing other support, including a dinner planned for the night before the marathon and a reception scheduled the day after.
"I have continued to train with the team," he said. "However, I have limited my runs to no more than 12 miles. I still enjoy running and try to be a visible presence with the members of the President's Marathon Challenge. I will address the team at the pre-race dinner on Sunday night, and on race day will be helping [PMC director and coach Don Megerle] out at the finish line as we greet each Tufts runner as they conclude the race. I will also host a post-race gathering for team members on Tuesday afternoon. So while I will not be actually running the race, I am still very much involved."
Tufts Community Union Vice President Bruni Hirsch, who is a member of the PMC, said she understood entirely Bacow's decision and was still glad to have the opportunity to run with him during the training process.
"Running marathons year after year after year really takes a toll on your body," said Hirsch, a senior. "It's one thing if someone's a runner; Bacow is a runner, but he's obviously also the president of the university, and he has a lot on his plate right now, and if his body is starting to ache, I think it's time to call it quits. And he still gets out on our Sunday morning runs, he's very encouraging, and he runs for as long as he can, but there's no sense in injuring yourself."
"If you had to see what he's got to do, I don't know how he does it," Megerle added. "He's run five [marathons], and last year we gave him a beautiful black [Boston Athletic Association] jacket with the five marathons he's run embroidered on the back. He trained with us, but his schedule, he's all over the freaking world ... But he loves the marathon."
