I started running in 1978, when I began working for a Manufacturers Hanover Bank in Manhattan.
Manny Hanny hosted a summer series of 5K Corporate Challenge races in Central Park. Companies would enter teams of runners.
"Even if you weren't a runner, you were encouraged to participate … because if "Manny Hanny" beat the other Bank teams, you'd
get a small bonus." The bank also promoted weekly training runs in Central Park, so I joined the Manny Hanny team and quickly
found out just how enjoyable social running can be.
What is social running? It's my key to having any type of long-term success in running. It's a term I use to describe a
group of runners who train regularly, together, on a fixed schedule; the same time and day(s) each week. Get in with this
type of runner and you'll do more than run. You'll develop friendships that will last all your life.
When I moved to Delaware in 1983, I began running daily with James Phreaner, an IRS agent, who worked in my office building.
Jim took me out for lunchtime cross country runs through Bellevue State Park and later brought me to Buckley's Tavern on
Saturday mornings, where I began training with a group of social runners who called themselves the Buckley Striders.
The Striders run every Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. and haven't missed a run in over 30 years.
In 1983, I also joined the PCVRC and I began improving as a runner. Like most runners back then, I ran nearly every day,
in all types of weather. In 1984, I ran my first Caesar Rodney Half Marathon in a respectable 89:03. Also, in 1984, I
ran my first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon in 3:23:10. Five more marathons followed between 1985 and 1988 with times
ranging from 3: 25 to 3:40. Then late in 1988, I ran New York in a disgusting 4:04. That performance ended my first
era of marathons.
In 1988 and 1989, I helped the PCVRC stage their annual Pike Creek Classic 15K run. I moved the race from Pike Creek
to Del Tech Stanton and renamed it the Delaware Distance Classic. The race grew and the club brought in Bill Rodgers
from Boston to run with us in 1989. At its peak, we had nearly 2000 participants. After my two year stint as race
director, I took a break from running - ten years to be exact - during which time I also moved to Stuttgart, Germany for work.
When I returned to the U.S. in 1998, I joined the YMCA of Delaware. After nearly a decade of inactivity, I had gained
over 40 pounds and was so "out of shape" that I needed six months of physical therapy for my knees before I could get
serious about running again. In 2000, I began running once a week at lunch. "It was like starting over." Slowly, I
lost weight and my running improved again. On the first Saturday of December 2002, after 15 long years away, I finally
returned to Buckley's and began running again with the Striders on a weekly basis.
I began running all the long distance races I hadn't run in 15 years; the January Icicle 10 miler in 81:19; the March
Caesar Rodney Half Marathon in 1:51; the September Bottle & Cork 10 miler in 74:58 and the September
Philadelphia Distance Run Half Marathon in 1:37. I also managed to fit in the 36 miles Brandywine Trail End to End Hike
in a respectable 10:12.
In 2003, I set my sights on the Philadelphia Marathon. After training all Summer and using the Steamtown Marathon as
a training run, I surprised myself at Philly with a PR in 3:21:29, (7:44 pace) qualifying for my first Boston Marathon.
Since 2004, I've run Boston two other times, having re-qualified in 2008 with a 3:31finish at the Berlin Marathon.
Besides rejoining the PCVRC, I'm a certified SPIN instructor for the YMCA of Delaware and the Operations Director for
the Delaware Marathon Running Festival - a marathon; half marathon;
and relay marathon in Wilmington each May.
However, the highlight of my life was marrying Stacey Haddock Schiller in the Fall of 2009.
I want to thank all my running friends and acquaintances for their support and love. You know who you are!
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Joel Schiller
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Run, Race, Enjoy!