Richard Rapine

Q: What is your favorite running trail?
Tyler State Park in Newtown, PA. It is where I first started running and whenever I go back to run there I always feel fast. I narrowly missed colliding with deer several times in that park.

Q: What is your favorite SLR trail (if different from favorite running trail)?
Bill Dunn’s Ross Drive Run. It’s a nice mélange of trails, hills, and loops.

Q: What SLR trail should Max and other course planners never have charted and exposed unsuspecting runners to?
The John Yow “T” route. This trail has the honor of incorporating the two most heinous places SLR traverses, the airport and Haines Point!

Q: What’s on your race schedule this year?
The Cherry Blossom 10-miler, Bunion Derby races, track meets, late fall marathon?

Q: What’s your favorite marathon?
The only marathon I have run is Chicago. It has great crowds, it is flat and fast, it has a good team tent, and the Art Museum was fun even though I couldn’t walk straight. I will run this marathon again even though there are people probably still in the bathroom lines.

Q: What would you say was your most memorable race?
My most memorable race was my senior year in high school at the state cross-country championships. I was feeling really tired in the first mile and was having an absolutely horrible race. To make matters worse, our number two runner dropped to dead last because of injury. I struggled through the race feeling both tired and depressed, knowing that my team was going to lose our state title winning streak. There was a lot of pressure on us to perform with a national ranking on the line and the hopes of our school, parents, and friends hanging on the race. Towards the end, I mustered up everything I had for one final kick in the long home stretch and passed a lot of runners. We were ecstatic to find out later that we had won our third consecutive state title by the slimmest of margins!

Q: My Run from Hell, or the Run I Should Never Have Embarked Upon, is . . . ?
As legend would have it, my Chicago marathon would qualify as a Run from Hell. I was injured and losing fitness for the weeks leading up to the marathon. I started out well and felt good through the halfway point. I started slowing down by mile 15 and crashed into the wall at mile 17. I knew I was in for a world of hurt when I started staggering and still had 9 miles left in the race. While the whole world ran by me I managed to get to mile 25 and stopped there. Two aid workers helped me to the medical tent where I received a full IV bag. While lying comfortably with my feet raised, I was suddenly threatened with the insertion of a thermometer in the nether region below the back! This was when I decided I was feeling a lot better and was saved by Cecily Rekart, a fellow SLR’er. We proceeded to finish the race together. While finishing the race, I threw in a couple of high knees because Joe ingrained in me all summer long the importance of form work.

Q: What’s your best marathon time?
3:45:33 and proud of it!

Q: What is your average mile pace during SLR runs?
My mile pace is staying with the front group! This pace may vary from 5:50-7:15 depending on mileage, weather conditions, and which jerk wants to throw in a surge.

Q: What’s the best running shoe you’ve ever worn?
Nike Air Pegasus (especially for $30 each!)

Q: What do you currently run in?
Nike Air Pegasus

Q: How many pairs of running shoes do you use per year?
About 6-8

Q: What is the funniest thing about your current job? (No need to divulge any classified information.)
Radiation checks, in an absurd, Homer Simpson kind of way.

Q: What’s the worst job you have ever had?
Busboy/dishwasher, having to carry trays of dirty dishes, cups, utensils and having various food and liquid products splashed onto yourself. The waitresses screaming for clean silverware and the cooks needing greasy, burnt pots and pans cleaned. Mopping up the messes, being on your feet for hours, no tips, and still having to get a run in!

Q: Name your favorite pizza.
I am a fan of the supreme pizza.

Q: What is the most recent book you’ve read?
I finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho on a plane recently. This is the book of the month for the No-holds Barred Book Club. It’s a quick read and I recommend it.

Q: Who is/are your favorite Nobel prize winner(s)?
All of the Physics laureates. I am drawn to their search for an understanding of the deep cosmos and the smallest particles, of the relationship between matter and energy, space and time.

Q: If you were a car, which car would you be?
A midnight black Ferrari 365/GTB4 Daytona Spyder, because Don Johnson drove one in Miami Vice and he got all the women.

Q: Caribbean Cruise or Appalachian Trail Hiking? Why?
Caribbean Cruise. I like the outdoors and I have already done trail hiking along the Appalachian Trail, but I haven’t been to the Caribbean. I love the beach, the sun, and hot weather!

Q: Preferred Starbucks espresso drink?
I don’t drink coffee, how about a hot chocolate?

Q: Top three movies ever seen?
1. Lawrence of Arabia (“Nothing is written, unless I write it!”)
2. Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (all-time great action flick!)
3. Top Gun (“I feel the need, the need for speed!”)(go 80’s!)

Q: What’s your preferred (or least repulsive) Gatorade flavor?
Frost Cascade Crash