Bayne: running distance, charting the course

On the November 18, people from all over will be gathering to run 26.2 miles throughout the city of Philadelphia. Among them will be social studies teacher, Mr.  Ryan Bayne.

Bayne has been running since his senior year of high school in 1997. He ran his first marathon in 1998 and hasn’t run one since.

The educator decided that he would be running the marathon in the beginning of the year and started training this past July. During the week he runs between 40-50 miles, while on the weekend he tries to run anywhere between 14-18 miles, he also adds a few difficult workouts a week running at a faster pace and longer distances.

Not only is Bayne a teacher, he is also a husband and a father of three young children. So often times it can be hard for him to find the time to train. Due to the extreme heat and humidity Bayne has found, that it is difficult to run during the day, but to ensure that he still does run, he gets up around 4:15- 4:30 in the morning and runs in the dark. Bayne says, “It’s been very rewarding, looking back and knowing what ive been able to do to prepare myself for this, despite some of the obstacles in my way.”

Many people know that Bayne is a very goal oriented person, and he always has a new goal for himself. He says “as I get older in age, just the idea that I can balance being a father, teacher, a husband and still take care of my own self is something that I think is a great achievement.”

The whole training process itself involves lots of running and preparing the body for this much work but Bayne says that the hard work and perseverance is what means a lot to him. In the end Bayne hopes to qualify for the Boston marathon no matter how difficult and says, “either way, whether I do or not this whole journey has been kind of rewarding in terms of working hard.”