Doug Meyer earned the distinction last week of being Dane County's fastest finisher in the 100th Boston Marathon. With an effort of 2 hours, 35 minutes, 32 seconds, he finished 190th overall in a field of more than 38,000 runners.
And now that the historic race is behind him, he will return to his medical studies before he returns to the starting line of another marathon.
A second-year medical student at University of Wisconsin, the 25-year-old Meyer is only an occasional marathoner. He is a runner at heart, but ran Boston only to be part of marathoning's biggest moment ever.
Unlike many Madison-area runners who are dedicated to the 26-mile distance, for whom Boston was a hallmark homecoming, Meyer is still a marathon novice. Boston was just his third marathon, ever after a pair of Minnesota marathons last year -- Grandma's (2:37:24) in June and Twin Cities (2:39:06) in October.
``I am still on top of the world,'' Meyer said last week after he returned to the medical student's life of libraries and labs. ``That was the best running experience I ever had. And that was the best running event I've ever participated in.
``It was the best race of my life. Nothing compares to it.''
Meyer's Wisconsin Track Club teammates know him as a solid 10K runner capable of winning local races. He has a 10K best of 31:55 on the track. Last year he won the Meriter Nurses 10K, the Canterbury 10K and the Jingle Bell 10K, all in Madison.
But he won't be back for the next Meriter Nurses race on May 9, because he'll be catching up on school work. And it may well be another two years before he runs another marathon. Then, it may be in a place like New York or San Francisco rather than Boston again: He likes marathons for their travel aspect.
``Maybe I'll do another in my fourth year of medical school,'' he said. ``But my third year will be hectic, and it won't allow me to train much.''
A former runner for UW-La Crosse, Meyer has been running since high school in Mequon. He managed this marathon PR off of a dozen 65-mile weeks. His studies, he said, took a slight back seat as he focused on Boston. He ran seven days a week, between 7 and 13 miles each afternoon.
``I'm kind of paying for that now,'' he said.
He turned to the marathon a year ago after managing 6-minute pace in the 20-mile Syttende Mai Run, when he placed fifth overall. The lure of being part of the 100th Boston, once he realized it was around the corner, was too much to pass up.
Once in Boston, he wore bib number 1,505. He took just 12 seconds to cross the starting line after imagining it might take him a full minute.
``From talking to others who had been to Boston, I thought it would be a real zoo,'' he said. ``They said don't try to run a good race because of the crowd, but I wanted a PR. I already had my airfare and my entry, and I really wanted to do my best race, with the crowd or not.''
Being the Boston novice, he didn't realize that the infamous Heartbreak Hill at 20 miles was the third in a series of hills, rather than the first. But he crested it well and scored the PR he was after.
``I think I've found my race (the marathon),'' he said. ``I enjoy it more than any other distance. You are able to go most of the way without pain. I think I've got some potential for it.''
But right now, Doug Meyer also has medical school.
Area Boston Marathon Finishers
Following are the names, ages, times and places of the Dane County runners who finished the 100th Boston Marathon on April 15, the oldest and most prestigious race, with 38,706 starters. These results are from the Official B.A.A. Boston Marathon home page on the Internet (http://www.bostonmarathon.org).
Black Earth: Wesley Geringer, 58, 3:55:10 (16,340th).
Cottage Grove: Timothy Carew, 40, 3:24:31 (7,127th); Herb Thompson, 40, 3:36:04 (10,386th); Thomas Nordland, 41, 4:54:43 (29,966th).
DeForest: Michael Kirchner, 35, 3:52:43 (15,541th); Melanie McManus, 34,4:28:01 (25,197th); Kevin Hoey, 33, 4:45:43 (28,451st).
Madison men: Douglas Meyer, 25, 2:35:32 (190th); Joseph Guenther, 26, 2:46:13 (665th); Mark Gajewski, 41, 2:48:26 (832nd); David Meisinger, 26, 2:52:51 (1,200th); Holger Cordes, 32, 2:53:14 (1,231st); Michael Stewart, 29, 2:54:34 (1,369th); Charles Possin, 47, 2:54:48 (1,420th); Thomas Kelly, 41, 2:56:46 (1,674th); Russ Fiebig, 25, 3:02:09 (2,508th); Robert Landrum, 30, 3:03:22 (2,673rd); Edward Lynch, 40, 3:03:46 (2,732nd); David Kasuboski, 53, 3:06:48 (3,212th); Dan Rindfleisch, 41, 3:13:42 (4,554th); Gregory Ingermann, 24, 3:15:58 (5,050th); Peter Wadsack, 51, 3:18:09 (5,552nd); Mark Wolfgram, 43, 3:18:52 (5,735th); Michael Gotzler, 25, 3:20:31 (6,177th); Daniel Stark, 45, 3:20:35 (6,197th); Ken Woodford, 32, 3:21:08 (6,320th); David Brander, 34, 3:23:16 (6,809th); Jim Stangel, 41, 3:23:22 (6,840th); Peter Daly, 3:23:55 (6,995th); Robert Norcross, 42, 3:24:36 (7,148th); Jeffrey Pearman, 41, 3:27:02 (7,799th); William Herbert, 40, 3:28:29 (8,183rd); Ronnie Carda, 42, 3:28:54 (8,312nd); Tod Jensen, 27, 3:28:54 (8,313rd); Paul Stetka, 34, 3:28:54 (8,314th); Bart Hobson, 47, 3:28:55 (8,317th); Michael Duckwitz, 47, 3:31:03 (8,937th); Daithi Wolfe, 33, 3:33:29 (9,9619th); Terry Shelton, 44, 3:35:31 (10,197th); Ralph Willis, 42, 3:36:03 (10,382nd); David Zimmermann, 43, 3:37:06 (10,713th); David Hantz, 46, 3:37:51 (10,965th); Joe Ballmer, 42, 3:37:51 (10,961st); Gregory Krohm, 49, 3:39:34 (11,456th); Cary Segall, 46, 3:40:49 (11,828th); Michael Weifel, 40, 3:45:19 (13,231st); Mark Beatty, 44, 3:45:27 (13,296th); Donald Nolan, 46, 3:48:58 (14,363rd); Kurt Kelly, 24, 3:51:30 (15,148th); Douglas Dulli, 44, 3:54:42 (16,159th); David Kirby, 52, 3:55:26 (16,411th); Steven Reese, 42, 3:56:14 (16,665th); Daniel Barker, 25, 4:05:18 (19,448th); John Markson, 41, 4:15:12 (22,183rd).
Paul Lundsten, 40, 4:15:12 (22,181st); Jason Dorgan, 30, 4:15:12 (22,182nd); Frank Burgess, 53, 4:31:49 (25,966th); Stanley Woods, 60, 4:33:36 (26,329th); Tom Rice, 50, 4:34:55 (26,596th); John Schmitz, 42, 4:35:12 (26,657th); Paul Withington, 61, 4:48:22 (28,928th); Jeff Berg, 52, 4:49:00 (29,038th); Thomas Brei, 48, 5:01:11 (30,850th); Kenneth Williams, 56, 5:02:24 (30,984th); Roy Prange, 50, 5:18:47 (32,689th); Jim Salerno, 48, 5:22:37 (33,036th).
Madison women: Jane Moser, 37, 3:07:43 (3,380th); Kit McCaffrey, 25, 3:27:54 (8,044th); Denise Marino, 36, 3:42:24 (12,291st); Stephanie Vaudreuil, 39, 3:46:59 (13,804th); Laura MacAulay, 27, 3:47:38 (14,005th); Heidi Lindh, 25,3:50:39 (14,884th); Ann Hayes, 29, 3:53:08 (15,650th); Stephanie McAndrew, 20, 3:54:28 (16,073rd); Carol Swain, 48, 3:55:39 (16,488th); Madeline Gotkowitz, 31,4:04:41 (19,236th); Linda Garnett, 45, 4:07:24 (20,042nd); Jill Karofsky, 29, 4:15:11 (22,177th); Joy Jones, 46, 4:19:49 (23,256th); Nadine Kerr, 22, 4:22:11 (23,806th); Peggy Brooks, 44, 4:27:43 (25,146th); Susan Fafard, 54, 4:32:30 (26,099th); FayeRoels, 28, 4:50:20 (29,277th); Teri Johnson, 42, 6:07:36 (35,096th).
McFarland: Jack Paschke, 30, 3:43:57 (12,827th).
Middleton: David Babler, 41, 3:24:36 (7,152nd).
Monona: Beverly Lampe, 64, 5:15:30 (32,405th).
Mount Horeb: Keith Dalby, 50, 7:11:17 (35,733rd).
Oregon: Jerry Bollig, 46, 3:37:51 (10,962nd); Tim Yanacheck, 48, 3:40:09(11,638th); Darrell Barth, 53, 4:40:40 (27,601st).
Sun Prairie: Daryl Ketterhagen, 37, 2:57:40 (1,805th); Peter Chermak, 40, 3:22:19 (6,605th); Bill Detra, 55, 4:04:05 (19,052nd); Thomas Huss, 50, 4:16:35 (22,514th).
Verona: Hugh Hauser, 36, 3:42:02 (12,195th).
Waunakee: Casey Collins, 42, 3:24:57 (7,239th); Steven Sorenson, 42, 3:50:36 (14,873rd).
