About Me

Hi, Friends & Fellow Runners:

The text that follows comes from an article in New Jersey Advance Media, an affiliate of the Newark Star Ledger, the largest newspaper in the state.  It appeared two days before the running of the New York City Marathon on November 2nd, and I thought it might be of some interest to you.

It's a pleasant 70 degrees when Stephen Bogardo sets off for a morning run on the Ocean City boardwalk. Starting his journey at 9th Street, near Shriver's Salt Water Taffy, he wears a race shirt and spandex shorts, his eyes squinting away the beachfront wind over a thick, white mustache.

A trickle of pedestrians stroll by as Bogardo, who lives at the city's south end, pounds the boards for six miles. On Sunday, he'll aim to cover more than four times that distance — 26.2 miles — when he takes his first crack at the New York City Marathon.

But another number — 80 — has come to define his running career. It's his age, making him one of the oldest New Jerseyans running the marathon this weekend. He's in good company. The number of NYC Marathon finishers who are 65 and older has steadily increased over the past five races, according to information provided by the New York Road Runners, a group that has organized the marathon since 1970. In 2008, 565 senior runners crossed the finish line. Last year, 749 did.

"I could run marathons until I'm 100," says Bogardo, who grew up in Secaucus before the birth of the New Jersey Turnpike.

Stephen Bogardo, 80, takes a run on the boardwalk in Ocean City. A marathon coach, this Sunday's race will be his first New York City Marathon. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) 

'I'm going to die standing up'

For Bogardo, who turned 80 on Sept. 16, the approaching race means that he's well on his way to achieving his ultimate goal: to run back-to-back marathons in New York and Boston. The state's second oldest runner to compete in New York City this year, he's scaled seven marathons in the last five years, but remains a realist.

"At my age, most men are either dead or playing golf in Florida, so it's not a big deal when I say I either win or place in my age group," he says.

When it comes to running, Bogardo is a numbers guy. Time, temperature and distance — miles, degrees, hours and minutes — are of paramount importance to him. Born inSecaucus, he grew up in the Hudson County town when the essence of pig farms — and garbage dump fires — still hung in the air. Having started running in his late 30s to relieve stress, he underscores the rise of the hobby with an anecdote from 40 years ago. Then living in Medford, Burlington County, Bogardo was stopped by a police officer during a late-night run.

"They weren't used to seeing adult people running on the streets back then," he says. "Apparently they thought maybe I was running from somebody."

Bogardo grew up in Secaucus and didn't start running until his late 30s. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) 

Having retired in 2007, Bogardo has two grown children from a previous marriage. He worked as news reporter for Union City's now-defunct Hudson Dispatch and the Associated Press, and — most recently — as vice president of human resources for a restaurant group in Toronto. (He returned to New Jersey two years ago).

He says his age proved a novelty to budding marathoners when he taught running clinics while still living in Toronto. He now counsels runners online through MyRunningCoach.net, sending them personalized training programs. One of his clients, Enrique Larez, 37, has tackled marathons in Canada, Los Angeles and Paris.

"To be honest, I thought this was going to be a one-off," says Larez, a marketing manager in Toronto. "You know, train, go through the pain, finish the race, and cross it off my bucket list. Obviously I did not know Stephen."

They weren't used to seeing adult people running on the streets back then. Apparently they thought maybe I was running from somebody.

Bogardo, who first tried marathon running 20 years ago, has completed three Boston Marathons and qualified two other times for New York. First, he got sick, then, in 2012, the race was canceled due to fallout from Hurricane Sandy. In 2013, he sat out the Boston Marathon, too, because of a groin injury, now grateful that his wife, Islay — who often waits for him at the finish line — wasn't there for the bombings. A racing convert 20 years his junior, she joins him on morning runs, but lags behind.

"It's really quite embarrassing," she says. Yet Bogardo, who qualified for the NYC Marathon after running a half marathon in an hour and 42 minutes, does feel his age. In September, he beat his goal time of 4 hours and 55 minutes by 22 minutes at an Allentown, Pa. race to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Soon after crossing the finish line, he sat in a medical tent, dehydrated.

Islay, shaken by the experience, asked him to stop running marathons after next spring's Boston race. Bogardo says he hopes she'll reconsider.

"If I'm going to die, I'm going to die standing up," he says.

Coach Stephen