Sy Mah

Many of you know that I hung out with my best friend, John, at the College of Engineering at the University of Toledo. While there, he and I took an elective in Phys Ed together. The instructor was a guy by the name of Sy Mah. As we got to know him, it turned out he was a marathon runner...not only that, but he ran races almost every weekend. He would tell us stories about how he started running while in his thirties in an effort to get healthier. Then, over time, he would make it into the Guiness Book of World Records for the most marathons run. He was not the fasterst out there but from what I read, would finish within 4 hours (an hour faster than my stretch goal!). Being a casual runner back then, and in a lot better shape, I was amazed by this accomplishment. Now that I am in my forties and trying to run my first, I am astonished by what he could do.

As I train for this first in my life, I googled for him to see if there were any articles out there about him. He ran an amazing 524 marathons in his life. Wikipedia article stated the following of him "A pioneer in running multiple marathons was Sy Mah of Toledo, Ohio, who ran 524 before he died in 1988." Here were a couple articles that I thought were of interest:

http://edm.ouser.org/02/statue/n14se98d-symahstory.htm

http://edm.ouser.org/02/statue/

http://www.halhigdon.com/books/Marabook/Marabook2.htm

http://www.rrcahistory.org/rrcahalloffame/halloffame1980s.html

(Picture from RRCAHISTORY.ORG)

Although there are many who have now passed up his Guiness Record, I still honor him and his accomplishment. I am sure I will be thinking of him as well as my family and all of my supporters while running for those five hours in early May!