Hopkinton resident Peter LaGoy is one of only four people who have run a sub-three-hour marathon every decade for SIX decades!
The others are Antonio Arreola and Steve Schmidt, who both completed the feat at the 2020 Houston Marathon, and Jim Miller who set up a certified marathon, The Old Mill Marathon, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, for himself and just over a dozen friends on a rail trail in Vermont.
Early Running Years
LaGoy began running in 1975, as a junior in high school in Connecticut, where the cross-country team won the state championship during his senior season. He continued running with friends through college at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Although he never ran for Georgetown, he maintained his passion for the sport.
The Marathon Craze and LaGoy’s First Marathon
In the late 1970s, marathons gained popularity across the United States, primarily due to Bill Rodgers, who won the Boston Marathon four times and the New York City Marathon four times.
LaGoy was caught up in that wave. His inaugural marathon was the now-defunct 1978 Schlitz Light Marathon in Maryland. Having never run more than 10 miles at that point, he finished the race and ran his first Marine Corps Marathon soon thereafter.
Marine Corps Marathon
LaGoy is fond of the Marine Corps Marathon. He has run it several times in varying contexts over the years. The first time he ran it, he earned a Boston qualifying time of 2:47 (later reduced to 2:49 due to a course error).
Five years ago, LaGoy reached his sixth decade and to celebrate, he ran a marathon in Mesa, Arizona. One of the guys he traveled with was Jim Garcia, who, like LaGoy, runs for Greater Lowell Road Runners.
LaGoy and Garcia began chatting and discovered that Garcia had also run the same Marine Corps marathon all those years ago, and they finished with the same time! Though they didn’t know each other then, they must have finished within feet of each other!
Lessons Learned
On the other end of the spectrum, when LaGoy was a senior at Georgetown, despite knowing better, he and a buddy decided to “carbo-load” with vodka the day before the Marine Corps marathon. That decision delivered predictable results.
The next morning, right before the race, LaGoy’s buddy said he was out. LaGoy ate a vending machine brownie, and washed it down with a Coke for breakfast, then started started the race. “As you can imagine, it didn’t go so great,” shared LaGoy. To his credit, he hung in there and finished. Not many people could have pulled that off!
Boston and Beyond
Qualifying for and completing the Boston Marathon was monumental for LaGoy. Back then, the qualifying time for young men was 2 minutes and 50 seconds! With no such thing as charity bibs, the only way to run Boston was to qualify.
Over the years, he expanded his marathon résumé to include several races nationwide including Big Sur, a punishing but gorgeous course. One of the most memorable aspects of the Big Sur International Marathon is the tradition of a pianist, elegantly dressed in a black tuxedo, playing a grand piano stationed at the race’s halfway point, the iconic Bixby Bridge.
LaGoy also loves trail running; it reminds him of his cross-country days. He even ran up Mount Washington. Once. The Mount Washington Road Race can be summed up by the race’s tongue-in-cheek motto: “Only one hill.”
LaGoy noted that mountain and trail races are as much about overcoming the terrain and weather as they are about competing against the other runners. These experiences have only deepened his love for the camaraderie and unpredictability of off-road racing.
Top Performances and Friendships
LaGoy’s fastest marathon time was just shy of 2 hours and 45 minutes, but he thinks he could have done better. His best half-marathon time is 1:09:50. He achieved one of his best marathon times in his mid-fifties and won the 55– 59 age group in the Pittsburgh Marathon.
LaGoy first learned of the sub-three-hour in six decades from a close friend and runner, Tom Trimble. They initially met through the East Bay Striders running club back when LaGoy lived in California, They stayed in contact all these years, including after they ran the Boston Marathon together.
Trimble had been inspired by the idea of running a sub-three-hour marathon in five different decades, and encouraged LaGoy to chase the idea, noting that LaGoy had already had sub-three marathons in the seventies, eighties, nineties, and 2000s, he just needed one more sub-three to make five decades.
The two exchanged regular letters, motivating each other, as they both sought to improve their finishing times. Trimble encouraged LaGoy to enter races and chase new goals. Unfortunately, Tom died of a heart attack while running, but his enthusiasm and encouragement had a lasting effect on LaGoy.
Every time I talk about chasing that sub-three six-decade goal, I think about Tom. He was one of those people that is sort of instrumental in your life. I liked his sense of humor, the comaradery, and battling it out in races. — Peter LaGoy
A Runner’s Perspective
LaGoy’s stories express a deep love for running, a sense of humor about the sport’s highs and lows, and a strong sense of community. He appreciates the friendships forged in running, the lessons gleaned from victories and defeats, and the indelible lure of pitting oneself against the course, the elements, and time.
From state champion high schooler turned multi-decade elite marathoner and community leader, Peter LaGoy’s running story is one of perseverance, adaptability, and the spirit of endurance embedded in his sport.
Nice work Peter. Keep running.