Saturday Spotlight
Name: Mike Greb
Age: 40
Marital Status: Married to Kim
Kids: None
Pets: My kids, 2 dogs (Gizmo & Penny)
Occupation: Science teacher @Brentwood HS
Hobbies: Fishing, boating, reading, lacrosse, camping, hiking, biking, and of course running.
Hometown: Amity Harbor
Current Town: Bay Shore
College: Sacred Heart University, NYiT & SUNY Stonybrook
Favorite Race: Don’t have one…
I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday. I can’t say that I’m good at sharing like this, but here goes…I’d say that I have always been active and an athlete, but not always a runner. Growing up I played soccer and lacrosse through high school. When I chose to play lacrosse at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, my soccer days were over. Up there I should have known that I had a running future because I would always run the track when I was stressed, but never took it seriously. I was a lacrosse player.
When I graduated in 2002 and moved back home to Amity Harbor, I joined a post collegiate lacrosse league and played year three seasons a year until I became a teacher back in 2007. At that point I was too busy with the new job, getting married and buying a house to play anymore or even do any running. After a few years of teaching I got back into playing lacrosse and used running to get in shape, but still never considered myself a runner.
In 2015, after six years of playing post collegiately and now coaching JV lacrosse, the worst thing I could imagine as an athlete occurred. I tore the ACL & MCL in my knee. It happened on the last day of school, so my summer was shot. I spent an entire summer on the couch recovering from the surgery and drowning my sorrows in ice cream and Reece’s Peanut Butter cups (two things I cannot say no to and my mother-in-law was good at making me feel better through them!). When I was cleared to start real activity again, I had put on forty pounds and wasn’t interested in much of any real activity other than coaching.
I was now 37 and my doctor said my blood pressure and cholesterol were super high and that he wanted to put me on medication to help bring it down. That was my wake up. I asked my doctor to hold off for three months and give me the opportunity to bring my numbers down naturally. I set off to work. I signed up for my first half-marathon and started eating really clean. After three months, I was able to drop some weight, made my doctor happy with my progres. With my continued half-marathon training, I feeling great and was finally beginning to call myself a runner.
I completed the Suffolk Half-marathon and felt great. Upon crossing the finish line I couldn’t believe how far I had come and how much I accomplished. I had lost all the weight and then some. I was hooked and now I considered myself a runner. I haven’t looked back since. I ran anywhere and anytime I could, but never ran “The Hills”. It wasn’t until a friend from a high school, Ken Wiley, introduced me to this great group of people who enjoyed running as much, if not more than I do, that I ran my first classic. Running is now a regular part of my life and I try to make the Sunday group runs as often as I can. I’ve run with other groups, but
Lou LaFleur and the rest of the Hillbilly’s are great. Thanks for letting me be a part of this awesomeness!
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