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| Ben Ingram, left, circa 1874, in Michigan |
The 2007 New York City Marathon produced what is still one of the best performances from our group, and announced Ben Ingram onto the local running scene. Ben had moved to Baltimore earlier that year from Chicago, and was one of the first of us to have a banner day in a big race. On that day, Ben marched to the line in 2:37:09, finishing 72nd overall. As he came off a 1:11:43 at PDR a few weeks prior, we were all tremendously impressed.
Even more impressive was when, that winter, Ben allowed himself to slip so far out of shape that I put an insane amount of time into him at Club Challenge. I will keep that moment as one of boastful pride for as long as I live.
But what Ben really did on that day in New York was set the tone for years to come. No longer would our group accept mediocrity. Ben was one of the driving forces behind augmented training programs, and continues to stand as a source of leadership and guidance for many of us. Along with Jake Marren and Brennan Feldhausen, Ben got on board with the Jack Daniels' training formula and used it to great success, from distances of 10k up to the marathon.
As Ben continued to challenge himself, he took on large goals at Boston 2009, and Army Ten Miler later that year. He upped his own ante by competing in, and crushing, the JFK 50 Miler, and then re-visited the 10 mile distance with a terrific race at Cherry Blossom 2010. A disappointing lead-up to Chicago 2011 is probably the only blemish on his transcript, besides the aforementioned beatdown (by me) at Club Challenge. Even now, Ben continues to pursue more challenging events, as he has tackled the sport of triathlon this year, and pulled the trigger on signing up for Ironman Wisconsin 2012. Knowing Ben, I expect nothing less than meticulous discipline and focus as he prepares for that event. Of course, if he gets to Hawaii before I do, I may have to check myself into Arkham Asylum.
This little fluff piece isn't to boost Ben's ego, but rather to let him know how much he has meant to our group. Some of you may already know, but others may not, that Ben and his wife, Kendra, are moving to Omaha, Nebraska, in just two and a half weeks. Kendra accepted a great position with the Symphony there, and while we don't get to regularly see them now in Winchester, it is still nice to know he's not that far. I know a few of us have stopped by their place, and Brennan has gotten together to run with him a few times, meeting in the middle.
The good news is that the two of them will be coming to Baltimore to race the Celtic Solstice race on December 17th, so following that race it will be the Day of Ingram. As we get closer, we'll organize a social event for after the race. Whether you ran with Ben for a day or for years, or never ran with him at all, Ben has left an indelible mark in our Baltimore running history. For instance, the move of leaving the house quietly in the middle of the night during a fierce snowstorm, running 2 miles to Fells Point, getting caught, and then having to run back home - yeah, Ben invented that. The other move, when you drink a 40 and pass out wherever, probably because you're very old and very sleepy, that's just known as "The Ben" now.
Anyway, I apologize to Ben for blowing up his spot in the event that he wanted to let people know, but I feel like he might have left without saying anything. Show your love for Ben by sending me your favorite Ben story, or commenting below.
