We love to tell the stories of exceptional "older" athletes. Earlier this month we featured Joost De Raeymaeker's story (RTR article), 2:29 Berlin Marathon PR at age 49. Here we bring you Sally Reiley's story.
Sally Reiley is a remarkable athlete who races fast while doing good, lots of good. Late to the marathon, and even to competitive running, she started racing in 2014 at age 54! Her goal was to run the 2014 Boston Marathon to raise money for the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital in Boston, an institution she and her family have long been involved in, and to show that in the year after the bombings we were all Boston Strong.
She trained smart and well and ran out of the rear of the pack in the charity division at the 2014 Boston Marathon clocking a 3:34 in her very first marathon, ever.
Sally has raised a stunning $132,000 for eye research along the way. She decided to race the Chicago Marathon in 2017, this time to raise funds for the ALS Society.
2014 Boston Marathon
While it was not exactly her first race ever, it was close. She has since told me she jumped in a few races on a day or two of running a week: in her late 30's winning a 4 miler on the 4th of July race in her hometown of Marblehead near Boston and a decade later jumping in a half and running...1:37. All the while raising 5 children, skiing, playing tennis, and sailing.
Off we went. At the turnaround on the out and back course I saw she was about a minute behind me... At the finish not much more... I knew she would be ready for Boston! Two years later the tables turned as we dueled for several miles at Stew's and Sally out sprinted me to the line.
As were so many worldwide and especially in the Boston area Sally was also motivated to take our city back, to show the world we were Boston Strong after the 2013 bombings. She ran 3:34 in her first attempt at the distance,
Being a Boston local has other advantages as Sally spent time with Shalane Flanagan, a Marblehead native, after the very cold and wet 2015 Boston Marathon. Sally reports: "Shalane definitely commiserated with me after performing below expectations in the very cold and wet Boston in 2015 - she seemed thrilled to be able to validate her struggles with my similar experience, and concluded that it was the conditions and not the course that beat her up. Shalane's tip: Take it easy now and relax, get ready for next year!"
2017 Boston Marathon
Sally kept her streak alive during the brutal conditions at the 2017 Boston Marathon clocking a PR 3:29:48 for 8th in her age group.
I took this picture of her come down the finish stretch on Bolyston, with her distinctive booming stride and perfect form and saw she was working hard, very hard to sneak under the magic barrier. She knew exactly how close it would be to breaking 3:30.
2017 Chicago Marathon
Training
To try something different, she decided on a whim to run Chicago in 2017, this time raising money for the ALS Society, signing up for a charity bib on the last day, June 20th It would be her first fall marathon, first time not at Boston, and first time she had done two marathons in a year.
Well, Sally likes to play tennis with old friends, and has for decades. Tennis and its non linear sprinting and marathoning don't always mix she says.. Almost like clock work after Boston, and while playing tennis. she strains her high hamstring and she did it again in June. She had Graston treatments but no shots or PT. So she went into Chicago not quite at 100%.
A busy summer of travel and family visits, including some weeks with no running, saw her training peak at 45 miles per week 4 weeks out. She got in a 21 miler 3 weeks out at her usual 8:20 pace. Most of her runs are around that pace regardless of distance.
Race Weekend
Sally's daughter Heather and a fellow med school student joined her in support. Heather and younger sister Julia both successfully ran the 2016 Boston Marathon with Sally and Team Eye and Ear.
Sally worried that she might not find her usual race breakfast of oatmeal, a banana, and tea but that all worked out.
Getting to the start was a new experience for Sally as she thought, no problem she would take an Uber to the start but... no Uber wanted to get stuck on that side of Chicago after the race got under way. So she walked a solid mile to the start and got there on the late side. The entry to the start was very different than Boston with all waves trying to go through security at once. Little secret... the Eye and Ear Team Sally runs Boston with has its own headquarters house right next to the Athlete's Village...
Race
The race conditions rapidly warmed up as the sun came up and the shade of early skyscrapers disappeared. She found the Chicago course somewhat monotonous and flat with little variety to change up the muscles. She experienced less crowd support than Boston. But, what other marathon has crowd support like Boston or a course like Boston's!
She did find her daughter and friend cheering her along the way.
At 18 miles she said it really started to hurt with rising heat and the monotony. She admitted walking at the water stops...and regretted not wearing sunglasses.
She took Hammer gels before the start and at miles 7, 13,19, and 23 miles. She says they taste disgusting but she can tolerate them. She drank more water than usual. She found the water stops less regularly spaced than Boston.
She took Hammer gels before the start and at miles 7, 13,19, and 23 miles. She says they taste disgusting but she can tolerate them. She drank more water than usual. She found the water stops less regularly spaced than Boston.
Despite the heat, her injured hamstring, and the unfamiliar course she still finished in a stellar 3:37:52 for 8th place in her age group.
Gear Report
Sally wore Sigvaris calf sleeves, Lululemon Real Quick shorts and her trusty adidas Boston 6. Her first two Boston Marathons were in the adidas Energy Boost and after that she has raced in the Boston 6 (RTR review). They were fine but she thinks due to maybe not tying one quite tight enough and her still lingering hamstring issue causing to shuffle more, she did get a black toe for the first time in a race. Her Gamin 220 was way off, showing 27.6 miles due to the buildings blocking signals so she relied on mile splits to judge her pace.
Update: Sally will be running the 2018 Boston Marathon for the 5th time as part of Team Mass Eye and Ear for the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital. As she has for all of her prior Boston Marathons, she will be raising funds for the hospital. And raise funds she has, over $130,000 to date from her prior Boston Marathon efforts!
Sally welcomes your support of the important research and care at Mass Eye and Ear.
Her fund raising page is here
Thanks for your support!
Photo Credits: Marathon Foto, Sally Reiley, Susan Spencer, RoadTrailRun
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3 comments:
Amazing, great story! All the best to you Sally!
You're amazing, Sally! Fun seeing my photo of you at Boston 2017, too :-)
I wondered who took that great photo Susan. I credited you just now. Sam
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