PUBLISHED 08/31/2006
What are the best NFL cities for running?
There are some great cities. I love, oh wow, let's see. San Francisco, obviously, because we used to stay on the bay there. Let's see, Indianapolis is a good run. I enjoy running in Pittsburgh because you can get down to the river. Cincinnati you can get down to the river. I'm trying to think of some other good ones. Green Bay, but we don't stay in Green Bay, we stay in Appleton and that's a great run. We'll usually check with the concierge. We have a lot of runners in the organization-trainers and doctors will all run prior to the games.
So do you run by yourself or with some of the staff?
I run by myself.
None of the players?
No. The players train differently.
So the marathon in 2002, you ran 4:09?
Yes.
How did that feel?
It was great. I'm still torn between whether I had more fun training for it or doing the actual race. The race was great, I really enjoyed it. It was an inspiration because of all the runners. There are hills here, and it was a challenge, about 25, especially going downhill into Shelby Bottoms. That was my biggest challenge. Your quads start tightening a little bit. I knew I was in for it - you're literally running trying to avoid people for the first 10 miles and then, because you don't want to trip anybody, that kind of thing, you're around people. Once I passed the turnoff to the half-marathon, it got quiet. Yeah. It was really neat.
So what made you decide to do that marathon?
I think the year prior to that, I got out and was feeling good and I just kept running. I got out over an hour and I just decided to see how far I could go. I picked up the training program and had some friends who had done it and just went for it.
What did your players say about it?
They didn't say much. They probably thought I was a little crazy. But I finished, that was the objective. I enjoyed the long runs leading up to it. Typically one a week I would have a long run on the program and it would get longer and longer. I did a 20 to 22 prior to running the marathon.
Any plans to do another one?
I've thought about it. Yeah, I will run another one. If my knees are good enough, I will do another one. I don't know when.
