December 8, 2024
Half Marathon, 10K & 5K Races

62 Medal Man

The 62 medal man was in Negril last week for Reggae Marathon.  Let me clarify:  That’s 62 Finisher Medals…in one year.  The 62 medal man finished 62 endurance running events in 2016.  That’s more than one each week.  Yes, it took a while for that to sink in.

Meet Gene Collier from Philadelphia who with his wife Katrese were in Negril for their second Reggae Marathon Experience:

gene-collier-62-medal-man

We met Gene and Katrese on the bus and chatted for over 2 hours!  Yes we covered the usual running tall tales but also shared stories about life and family.  That’s what draws us in and keeps us in the running community, the shared activity that grows beyone just running.  It’s that elusive and sometimes hard to explain ‘Experience’.

Gene got involved in running through Black Men Run while Katrese started running with Black Girls Run.  Both loved the comaradaderie of running with these groups.  Throough these connections, they learned about the annual Reggae Runnerz ‘Runcation’ trip to Negril and Reggae Marathon.  ‘We signed up right away”, Gene noted.  “It just seemed like a really fun thing to do”, he added.  2016 was their second consecutive time at Reggae Marathon and they plan to come again.

While talking to Gene the one question that kept coming up was, “How did you do 62 events in one year”.  “I’m a planner”, Gene said as Katrese nodded knowingly.  “It comes naturally for me to schedule my activities…I love to ride my bike and when Katrese started running it just looked like fun”, he added.  And there it was:  ‘Fun’.  That’s at the heart of why we love running and especially love coming to Reggae Marathon.  It’s a well organized running event for sure and we are in Jamaica on the Beach in Negril in December but getting the chance to have fun with our running friends…to have fun…is what keeps us coming back for more.

Great to meet you and Katrese, Gene.  Hope to have fun with you in Negril again next December.  Thanks for sharing your story.

Until next time…

Reggae Marathon RunninGuy (aka Sugar ‘Tuff Gong’ Bong)

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