This 79-year-old New Bedford man can't wait to take on another Boston Marathon.
NEW BEDFORD — The last time The Standard-Times caught up with New Bedford resident Bill Harrison, the longtime competitive runner was a little downtrodden to be missing out on running the 2022 Boston Marathon, despite having earned a qualifying time, due to a spinal surgery. The next year, major heart surgery thwarted his sights on 2023.
Now, at 79-years-old, Harrison says he couldn't let another year go by without taking on those world famous 26.2 miles.
"I've run so many marathons, so many, but I'll always say there's nothing like Boston," Harrison said.
Shortly after the missed 2022 marathon, a little extra tiredness and chest pains when running led to a startling medical discovery and the insertion of a stent in Harrison's artery.
"The nurse said I had 99% blockage in one of my arteries," he said. "Amazing; I'd been running all these years and I never figured that out.
"I do good now. It's been over a year. I've been running 20 miles a week."
Look back: He's run 31 marathons. Still, this New Bedford 77-year-old wants one more Boston.
Monday, April 15 will be Harrison's 12th Boston Marathon and 34th full marathon overall, with more smaller races like half marathons and 5Ks in between than he can count, he said. A room in his house is dedicated to his decades' long running career — starting with his first marathon in 1982 — packed wall-to-wall with trophies, medals, T-shirts and other memorabilia.
"I'm running out of space," he said.
Harrison scoops last-minute qualifying time
Harrison said he'd decided by this past fall that 2024 would mark his return to Boston. But to make that possible, he had to travel out to Michigan to run the Marquette Marathon on Sept. 2 with hopes of making a time that would qualify him for the upcoming Boston Marathon.
"A friend found this marathon online and it was the one shot I had left, so I rushed to get my training in and took a chance," Harrison said, noting he finished with a time that qualified him for the Boston Marathon by 12 minutes. "I was second out of maybe six to eight people in my age category. It happened to be a warm day, I ended up struggling a little bit ... but it turned out good; just another journey."
Harrison said he was also pleased with his performance at a half marathon in Virginia Beach recently, finishing second in his age group there as well.
All systems go
As far as his medical readiness to take on another marathon on Monday, Harrison said "everything came out good" during a recent extensive medical examination.
"He just wanted to make sure everything's good, so there's some peace of mind," Harrison said.
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"I'm 79 years old, you know, so realistically, I don't know how many more years of running I've got left but I'm able to right now so I'm blessed, I'm really blessed," Harrison said, noting he was 76 the last time he ran a Boston Marathon. "As long as I'm able to, I'm going to keep going."
How to watch
Live coverage of the 128th Boston Marathon will begin airing Monday, April 15, at 4 a.m. through 8 p.m. on WCVB Channel 5. To stream online, visit www.wcvb.com.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: A 79-year-old New Bedford man will be running in the Boston Marathon
