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Garrison Man to Run in Boston Marathon Next Monday
by Ted Bean
 | | Photo by Bob Kopac of the Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club. |
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On any ordinary Monday, Paul Mackey would be at his Manhattan office beginning another work week. But Monday, April 16, will not be a routine Monday for Mackey. Instead of being at work, he will be at the start line of the 111th Boston Marathon. Mackey, a 43-year-old lawyer and Garrison resident, is hoping to finish his third Boston Marathon, and the 22nd of his running career.
When Mackey was in high school all of his brothers and a sister ran, so when he dropped off the football team and felt he "had to do something," running was his choice. He started running right then and has stuck with it ever since. He completed his first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C., during his senior year at Manhattan College. It marked the beginning of competitive long distance running for Mackey, whose running career has included finishing the New York City Marathon nine times and the Philadelphia Marathon six times.
The Boston Marathon requires that a runner qualify with a time in another race. So to qualify for this year's marathon, Mackey used his 3 hour 14 minute finish at the 2005 Philadelphia Marathon. In this year's Boston Marathon, Mackey's goal is to finish between 3:20 and 3:30, which would qualify him to run in next year's race. The Boston Marathon is a true stamina test, arguably one of the most difficult races to run. "It's always harder near the end," Mackey said. "The last mile is a bit of a relief." The toughest challenges Mackey says are the unexpected changes that can occur right before he runs, like "little injuries, or a little sickness before the race" or if it's a little warmer or cooler than expected.
To get ready, Mackey spends his lunch breaks running five to six miles in Central Park. While in training for a marathon, Mackey will try to get in two to three long runs of 20 miles on weekends to build up his endurance for the 26.2-miles he'll have to cover. During the race, Mackey's main thoughts involve thinking about how his body feels. He said he uses little tricks to keep going like looking at the crowd and making little connections. Mackey says he looks for things like spectators wearing sweatshirts from his college and yells to them, and shouts, "Go Bears!," to anyone wearing anything from his favorite football team.
Mackey has lived in Garrison for 14 years with his family which includes his wife, Denise, and his children Camille, 14, Paul Jr., 13 and Rosemarie, 12. Mackey's race on Monday means a getaway for them. "The whole family's coming up," he said. "We're going to make a weekend of it." The family weekend is set to include already purchased Red Sox tickets.
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