Name: Rob Graygor
Age: 53
Marital Status: Married 27 (almost 28)years
Children: Alex 23, Sierra 21, and Daniel 16
Occupation: Owner/Operator/ Partner,
Ready Shed
Hobbies: Umm..Running, Music, Reading, Being outdoors, Cooking
Hometown: Sayville
Current: Sayville. I bought the house I grew up in and moved from the small room, to the big room across the hall.
Thank you Lou LaFleur for asking me to be the WOTW, and then letting me reschedule twice. “It should be a fun thing, no problem” Lou said. I truly appreciate it!
Those of you that have gotten to know me know that I Love Running! Running is my meditation, my medication, my place to make big decisions, my place to push myself, and test my limits, and running is where I spend time with great friends laughing, talking seriously about our life situations, talking about The Chesterfield Kings, and what an amazing band they are! I tend to not take enough rest days because running (I’ve always leaned strongly towards being a vampire) sets me up mentally for the rest of my day. I often think of how many extra hours I’ve spent conscious, and really living as I run through the darkness when most people are sleeping.
Back in September I read the article Newsday wrote about Lou, and The Selden Hills Warriors. That article brought back memories of when I used to run a slightly different, but still hilly 10k 2 or 3 times in a row with friends from the Bohemia Track Club there in the early through mid 90’s. I found the clubs FB page and requested to join. Lou messaged me back right away, and said I needed to come down one Sunday at 8am and run a Classic with the group and I was in. The next Sunday I ran the 10k loop with KC and John Greene. It had been over 20 years since Id run that course, but it was awesome to be back! The guys obviously held their pace back to match mine( which I really appreciated) and we talked the whole time. When I we were done running, I got my sticker, and had made some great new friends, and rekindled my love for The Selden Hills!
My love for running started in my neighborhood growing up playing with friends outside before video games and streaming video. We played stickball, frisbee, football and if we wanted to get somewhere we walked, or ran. In Highschool I ran Cross Country, I’m terrible at remembering dates and race times, but I do remember the pasta and poker parties the night before a meet. I remember the bus ride to Sunken Meadow with our team listening to The Doors, and The Police, getting our minds ready to run up Snake and Cardiac. After Highschool, I didn’t run at all until around 1990 when my younger brother Jay told me that he started running a few miles a day, and he felt energized by it. I went out that day and ran 2 sweaty, lung burning miles, but I finished. Over the next few months 2 miles turned to 6, to 10. I started listening to Gary Null on 99.5 WBAI. Gary has written over 50 books on natural healing, veganism, and running. I started meeting my brother in Central Park at 5am on Sunday mornings to run loops around the park with Gary Null’s Running and Walking Group. It was with that group I decided to run my first Marathon, Vermont City in Burlington. I didn’t drink anything during training, so it never occurred to me to drink during the race. I managed to finish with some painful walking/running the last few miles. I swore I’d never run another marathon ever again! So, almost 20 marathons, 2 50 milers and countless 15-35 mile runs just because it was Sunday morning later, I’m excited to tell you of some of the highs and lows I’ve experienced Running over the next week!
Short and sweet I know. I will expand my story as the week goes on.