This is a really cool one. At sixty years old, with sixty thousand miles in his legs, Bernard finally ran Boston…

Name: Bernard Whitmore

Sex: Male

Age (at the time of first BQ):  60

Height (at the time of first BQ):  5′ 10″

Weight (at the time of first BQ): 142

At which marathon did you get your first BQ?  Boston Marathon

Tell us a little about the race. Through my 20’s I tried to qualify and got as low as a 2hr 52min PR (Cape Cod). Perhaps frustrated that I still hadn’t BQ’d I faded from racing for a few decades while I dealt with uncontrolled/undiagnosed epilepsy.

When the BM bombing happened I took I took it personally and vowed to get back in marathon shape. It took years, but thinking I might die before running BM I took a charity number and ran. And qualified for the next year.

Last year was my 4th, 42 minutes under BQ time. This year I’ll be 66 on the day of the Boston Marathon and I’m fighting my way back from 3 broken metatarsals. Stay tuned!

How long had you been running when you ran your first BQ? 40 years

Did you run in college or high school? Yes

What was your approximate lifetime mileage at the time of your first BQ? 60,000

How many miles did you run in the year before your first BQ? 1,500

Approximately how many races did you run in that year? 6

Did you follow a canned program? If so, which one? If not, can you give us an idea of what your training philosophy was? Yes, IRONMAN TRIATHLON TRAINING PLAN

Did you run with a running club or utilize a coach? No

Did cross training play a role in your training? If so, how? Bicycling keeps me cross-trained

Did speed work play a role in your training? If so, how? Not really – not on the track any way. I just make sure all my longer runs are negative split.

Any other thoughts you would like to share with those of working towards a BQ? Don’t lose weight training for it. Keep healthy and utilize recovery nutrition (Protein powders, BCAA’s etc).