Tom Stone

Q: What is your favorite running trail?
My favorite running route near my house is running in Ellanor C. Lawrence Park and Rocky Run Stream Valley Park. It is shaded, away from traffic, and a combination of wood chip, gravel, and paved trails.

Q: What is your favorite SLR trail (if different from favorite running trail)?
My favorite SLR route is running on the C&O Canal Towpath. It has a nice soft surface, it is away from traffic, and the miles are marked. What more could you ask?

Q: What SLR trail should Max and other course planners never have charted and exposed unsuspecting runners to?
All SLR routes have their good points, but for some reason I do not enjoy running on the Mount Vernon Trail. There are no water fountains between Rosslyn and Alexandria, it can be hot in the summer, and it can be cold and windy in the winter.

Q: What’s on your race schedule this year?
My race schedule is not completely determined but, I am doing the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, and I will do a fall marathon.

Q: What’s your favorite marathon?
My favorite marathon was the 2003 Philadelphia Marathon. I ran the first half at a relaxed pace and was able to run some of my fastest miles in the last 6. I ran much of the race with Steve Easley and David Heinen, so as a group it was easy for us to stay on pace.

Q: What would you say was your most memorable race?
My most memorable race was the 2002 Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. It was one of those experiences that runners live for. Everything went right in that race and I managed to run over a minute faster than my best case goal.

Q: My Run from Hell, or the Run I Should Never Have Embarked Upon, is . . . ?
I have a couple of these. The SLR that I least enjoyed was on February 22, 2003. We ran on the road around Hains point in the rain on a day where the temperature was just above freezing. After about a mile into the route, my clothes were soaked through and I froze the rest of the run. At the half way point, I would have given almost anything to be done running and back somewhere warm. It was the coldest that I ever remember being during a run (and I ran outdoors in Minnesota winters many times).

The other “Run from Hell” was a 10,000 meter race in a track meet at Moorhead State University (now Minnesota State University Moorhead) in the spring of 1986 (I think). A few laps into the race, the sky got strangely dark—not from clouds—and the wind started to pick up. It was very eerie. After a few more laps, it became clear that we were in the middle of a huge dust storm. There was dust everywhere, and I was inhaling it with every breath. The winds became stronger, making it harder to run and blowing dirt in my eyes and mouth. They suspended all of the field events and everyone except those of us running the 10K took cover. I was completely covered with a layer of dirt at the end of the race.

Q: What’s your best marathon time?
My best marathon time is 3:22:29, which I ran in the 2002 Pittsburgh Marathon.

Q: What is your average mile pace during SLR runs?
I am not sure what my average pace during SLR runs is, though I suspect that it is somewhere between 7:15 and 9:30 per mile.

Q: What’s the best running shoe you’ve ever worn?
In my opinion, the best running shoe that I have ever run in is the Nike Air Pegasus.

Q: What do you currently run in?
Nike Air Pegasus 2002

Q: How many pairs of running shoes do you use per year?
I go through about 6 pairs of running shoes per year.

Q: What is your current job?
I am employed as an aerospace engineer.

Q: What is the funniest thing about your current job? (No need to divulge any classified information.)
I guess it depends on what you consider funny. Our timesheets start and end in the middle of the day.

Q: What’s the worst job you have ever had?
I grew up on a dairy farm, so as you might imagine, there were plenty of jobs that I considered suboptimal. It is kind of hard to imagine any job involving manure being considered a good job. (Though, maybe one could make an argument that it beats any job where you have to use Microsoft software products.)

Q: Name your favorite pizza.
I don’t eat pizza very often, but I guess my favorite pizza toppings would include cheese, green peppers, black olives, and onions.

Q: What is your favorite food?
My favorite food of all time is grapes. I can’t imagine going more than a couple days without grapes.

Q: What is the most recent book you’ve read?
I am currently reading Dune: House Atreides by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The original Dune books (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert) are my favorite science fiction series of all time.

Q: Who is/are your favorite Nobel prize winner(s)?
There is no Nobel prize in mathematics, but my favorite Fields Medal winner is Laurent Schwartz. He got the award in 1950 for his work on distributions.

Q: If you were a car, which car would you be?
If I were are car, I would be a 1973 Ford Maverick.

Q: Caribbean Cruise or Appalachian Trail Hiking? Why?
I think I prefer Appalachian Trail hiking. It seems more active than a cruise.

Q: Preferred Starbucks espresso drink?
I don’t drink coffee, but I do like grape juice.

Q: Top three movies ever seen?
This is a hard question. In answering this question, I decided to pick movies as follows: I wanted movies on my list that involved the following 3 topics—running, mathematics, and science fiction. So my list is (in no particular order):
1. Forrest Gump
2. Good Will Hunting
3. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
These three movies are among my favorites.

Q: What’s your preferred (or least repulsive) Gatorade flavor?
I don’t drink Gatorade, so I prefer water.