Name: William O’Dwyer
Age : 37
Nickname: Will
Marriage Status: Married
Job: Technology Operations (Financial Services)
Home Town: Stony Brook, NY
Current Town: Huntington NY
Favorite Races: Cow Harbor 10k, Brooklyn Half Marathon, NYC Marathon
Running Claim to Fame: Park Bench 5k race starts, I’m running down the right hand side the of the street, middle aged women steps out with camera, we collide.
Growing up in Stony Brook in the 1990’s was like the movie “The Sandlot”, but with lacrosse sticks instead of baseball. I grew up playing team sports. I was a good runner but there was nothing to like about it. Running was a coach barking at us, telling us to do another set of suicides. I have a memory of being at practice once on the sideline when the cross country team ran by our field. I turned to my friend and said, WHO the HELL wants to RUN for FUN?
Another running memory that comes to mind was my 25th birthday. We were at checkmate inn late that night. At the time, my buddy was training for a marathon, so he was getting cocky, making some claims and other challenges….We ended up having a foot race that night, from the bar to the duck pond.
I lived in Brooklyn during my 20’s. The apt i lived in was off Bedford Ave. During the first year i lived there one morning i stumbled outside of my building in Nov to see thousands of people and green cups paving the road, along with hundreds of runners.. Haha I was shocked. The NYC Marathon. We went and hung out at this bar which was right on the street. The place had a big open window street side in front, so we sat there and hung out the window and watched the race all day. For a couple years we did this. At the same time i entered the NYC marathon lottery multiple times but never got it.
I started running more consistently when i was 30. I started running over the Williamsburg Bridge semi-frequently. Then one day i signed up for the BK Half Marathon (Which i still do every year) and loved it. When I moved to Huntington in 2014 i started running a 6 mile loop from my house pretty consistently around 4 times a week. This might not seem like a lot to some of you, but for me it was consistent and greatly improved my times. Last year during my NYC marathon training i ran an avg of 40 mpw for around 20 weeks, and had my best year yet!
I’m looking forward to getting better as a runner, and running more Selden Hills in 2019. I’ll close by saying that i like running for the exercise, but i think what i like most about running is being outside and having time to think. Seeing new places and landscapes never gets dull.