Photo courtesy of Clif Bar & Company
For a self-described recreational runner, Clintonville resident George Roulett has experience that borders on professional.
His 25 consecutive Boston Marathons suggest a knack for running and a lifetime of experience, but this is not the case.
While always athletic, Roulett didn’t start running until graduate school. In high school and college, he was a competitive golfer, but he changed sports when he joined the working world.
“I started working full-time and commuting from upstate New York and going to grad school at night in New York City,” he says. “With a 9-to-5, plus night school and two hours of commuting both ways, I didn’t have time to play golf anymore.”
Running gave him greater flexibility of location, he says, and it’s an exercise that offers a lot of benefit even with limited time. As a beginning runner, though, he didn’t have the speed or endurance to excel.
“I had to work up to it,” he says. “I learned from others, I read and studied the sport to be more efficient at it, and I enjoyed it.”
In 1985, Roulett ran his first marathon: the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.
“I kind of had the thought of doing it for a while. It’s one of those things that (makes) people think, ‘Gee, that would be really cool to do,’” Roulett says. “My friend said, ‘Why don’t we train for this and go out and do it?’ And that’s how I got into doing marathons.”
Just like the friend who encouraged him to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon, Roulett has found himself offering encouragement to other marathon runners through pacing.
“In 2000, I paced my first marathon helping others achieve their goal,” he says. “In 2002, the Clif Bar Pace Team started, and I was recruited to do that. That first year, we paced five marathons, and this is our 16th year pacing nationally.”
As part of a national team, Roulett has had the opportunity to take part in marathons from California to Minnesota. His most memorable race, however, happened right here in Columbus.
“My biggest accomplishment when it comes to running marathons is probably the 2004 Columbus Marathon,” he says. “I had been running marathons for 19 years, and for many of those years, I had been trying to break three hours. Finally, at the 2004 marathon, I was able to break that.”
Roulett is looking forward to his next marathon in October, when he paces the Marine Corps Marathon, where it all began 37 years ago.
Isabelle Brown is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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