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Show Davis High graduate is county's premiere marathon man "0;'-'-J,;'.''. V 1 ., :'-W-'tvl r v. I - - ... 3 I vr . ; '" . " J - :- '-m t:PM By TOM 11ARALDSEN FARMINGTON When Davis High School senior Gary Lambert decided to run for studentbody president last year, he knew it would be a difficult undertaking, very time-consuming and, at times, very frustrating. Taking on long races, however, is nothing new to Gary, who won that election last school year, has served through some turbulent times this year, and has literally become the Marathon Man of state high school students. Since March of 1980, Gary has run in 20 full marathons, undoubtedly un-doubtedly more than anyone his age in Utah. He has followed in the footsteps, so to speak, of his father Gary, who was running in the July 24th Marathon in Salt Lake City in yjj "I saw Dad run, and asked him if there was something shorter that I could run in. That was before the 5K and 10K races became popular. So when I found there really weren't we-ren't shorter races, I decided to train for marathons," Gary recalled. re-called. He began by running between six and nine miles a day, "lots of slow running in those days." By his Dad's side, he trained with longer lon-ger runs on weekends, preparing for his first race, the now-defunct Great Salt Lake Marathon. "It didn't go real well that first time," Gary said. "My time was about four hours flat, and I did win my age division, but there weren't many runners in my age division." Things have improved markedly for the soon-to-be Davis High graduate. gra-duate. Last October, Gary ran in the St. George Marathon, finishing in a respectable 2:53. Though he didn't realize it at that time, his finishing mark was good enough to qualify him for the race of his dreams, the ultimate in marathons, the annual Boston Marathon. "I didn't realize my time was fast enough until I read an article in 'Runner's World' magazine. When I found out I was qualified, I applied ap-plied to run in Boston." Last April 18, on an overcast Patriot's Day, Gary joined with 6800 registered runners, and another 3000 unauthorized participants, partici-pants, in running through the Boston Bos-ton drizzle. He wasn't in peak shape, and his finishing time of 3:45 was not his best, but it didn't deter him from having a great experience. experi-ence. "It was pretty thrilling," he said. "People were lining the streets the whole way, sometimes they were 20 people deep. And they cheered and treated every runner like we were the winners. I wasn't pleased with my time, but I was just glad I could run in it." Along with parents Gary and Barbara, the younger Gary visited New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., while on the trip. He hasn't run at Davis High, feeling that his training for marathons would conflict with training for track or distance racing. "I never considered myself to be a fast runner, so marathoning has been perfect," he added. Davis High School's marathon man, Gary Lambert's long hours of training have been successful. Gary has likewise enjoyed his year at the studentbody helm at Davis, saying "It's been frustrating frustrat-ing at times, but I figured it would help me survive my senior year. I've accomplished the things I set out to do, so I'm satisfied." In addition to running in races here in Utah, Gary has run in the Fiesta Bowl Marathon in Phoenix twice and in Las Vegas once. He's gearing up now for St. George again, and may try the July 24th race in Salt Lake this year as well. His future plans call for college, but probably not until he finishes an LDS mission. He will turn 19 this December, and hopes to leave for the mission field shortly thereafter. |
