Meet Club Member: Gavin Anderson (HF14007)

Gavin Anderson HF14007 – My race story is sort of an accidental story. I hope that when you read this, you will say to yourself, “If he can do it, I can, too!”

One day, as I was hiking with friends, one of the doctors in our group asked if anyone would do the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon with her. It was the first Saturday of December 2015. She explained that the person who was going to do it with her had bailed on her. “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t think I can do a half marathon.”

I had done my first 10K in 5th grade and a couple of 5Ks and 10Ks since, but I’d never thought about doing a half marathon — it had never been on my “bucket list.”

“Come on,” she replied. “If you can do half the distance in training, you can do the full distance on race day!”

I was skeptical, but I thought, “Okay, we’re doing 7+ miles on these hikes….” At the time, I was co-organizing a hiking group and leading two 7+ mile hikes every month. So, I agreed to join her for this “one-off” experience.

Even with tendinitis in both knees, I completed the race in 03:46:43 — plenty of time to spare. If I remember correctly, the finish line had a 6-hour cutoff time because there was also a full marathon being run concurrently. There, done! Well, sort of…

As many of you have found out, this is addictive. You finish one race and you think to yourself, “Whose crazy idea was this?!” And then the next day, you hear about another race, and you think, “Hmmmm. That would be fun. Who wants to do this one with me?”

So, for that first year, I did a half marathon every month for 13 months straight. In March 2016, with 3 half marathons in 3 months, I joined Half Fanatics. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who introduced me to the group. But, at some point, I “graduated” to Life Member.

Yes, I went a little crazy — some might say half crazy. These days, I do a more reasonable 4–5 half marathons a year, including running the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon, which I’ve continued to do every year — the race that started it all for me. I’ve even done 2 full marathons, a 30K, and other assorted distances.

For my first half marathon, I was under the impression that you had to wear “race clothes” — whatever that meant — so I dressed in running shorts and a T-shirt. But during that race, with over 26,000 runners, I saw every sort of attire. Ever since, I’ve run in full Scottish attire, celebrating my heritage, and have earned the nickname: Kilted Celt.

In August this year, I completed one of my dreams. Even before ever thinking about doing a half marathon, while growing up in Tacoma, I was fascinated by the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon — a race that crosses the Puget Sound on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. So, I signed up for the marathon and was trying to talk relatives into joining me when we found out my mom had cancer. Mom passed away on August 10th, just weeks before the race. Her funeral was on the afternoon of race day, so I asked my family if they thought I should drop out. They encouraged me to go ahead and run the race. I ran the race in my mom’s clan colors. It was so neat to have family members welcoming me at the finish line. And I went straight from the race to the funeral, where I played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes at her graveside service.

This month, I completed my 50th half marathon, and I brought along two fellow hikers for their first half marathon.

I’ve never hit any land-speed records. My fastest time was 03:10:19, and my slowest finish was 06:08:57. I’m not fast, but I finish. So far, I’ve never had a DNF.

I have one more half marathon this year — yep, you guessed it — the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon. And I plan to continue running half marathons as long as I’m able. You can, too!

Official race photo from my 50th half marathon (Summit 2 Summit Half Marathon, Hot Springs, AR)

Gavin AndersonHF#14007

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