By Bradford Eslin
I never really liked running when I was younger. I had always played sports but never just ran as a sport until high school. In my sophomore year, I ran cross country. I only did it for two reasons, one was to get in shape for hockey, which was my true love, and the other was because there were a lot of cute girls who ran cross country! I only ran that one year but did make the varsity team, so I think I had some natural ability. But like most people, after high school, things happen, and you drift away from friends and things. Work and life can consume you.
In July of 2016, I was feeling pressure in my chest. I didn't know what it was, and it didn't seem to go away. At times it was very scary for me. I decided to go to a doctor and see what was going on. After a stress test and bloodwork and such, they said I was just experiencing high anxiety. They prescribed medicine, and away I went.
But the medicine didn't really help that much. And it made me feel weird inside most of the time. I then found out you can become dependent on it, so I stopped taking it. In that same period, I started running and doing bodyweight exercises. I was hooked after just a few runs. The feeling it gave me was almost indescribable. I loved it so much that I ran for like five days straight. My knees revolted because they were not used to that kind of repetitive movement. I didn't remember what little I probably learned from when I was 15 about running, so I reluctantly took some time off, strengthened my knees, and slowly worked my body into running fairly regularly.
I would run 1.6 miles towards town until I hit a set of railroad tracks and then turn back home. It was 3.2 miles, and I was so, so proud of myself. Well, it didn't take me long before I wanted to get faster and better my time, and it didn't seem like it took very long before I started noticing a difference in my speed. I ran for a few months and ran my first official 5K at the Brewer High School Turkey Trot. My time was 18:57, and I thought that was pretty darn good. I had been talking with a friend of mine from high school who lived out in Arizona who was a distance runner and had just missed qualifying for Boston by literally seconds. Her story touched me. She noticed my times and said I should try to run farther, that I could be a really good distance runner. I hadn't run more than six miles in my life. The thought of running more than that actually scared me at the time, but I decided after hearing my friend's story I wanted to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon! It was crazy! I was barely even a runner, let alone a distance runner. But I let my friend guide me. She told me to buy the Hansons Marathon Method book, which she had used and loved. So, I went online immediately and bought it. As soon as I got it in the mail, I read it cover to cover, set my first marathon race and goal time, mapped out my running schedule, the works. I immersed myself like I never had before in anything. I was addicted.
My very first marathon was the Sugarloaf Marathon in May of 2017. It was in my training where I would get the name Bradcrazy. I started my marathon training at the beginning of winter. Almost all of my training runs were outside, sometimes in sub zero temps. My beard was frozen with icicles at times. One of my friends dubbed me Bradcrazy, and the name stuck.
I struggled hard during that marathon. I needed to get under 3:15:00 to be able to even apply to run the Boston Marathon. I got a 3:14:10, good enough to apply, but damn sure not good enough to get in. I was so bummed. I immediately started to try and find a Boston qualifier before the cutoff. I had never worked that hard for anything in my life, and to come up short just didn't sit well with me. I wasn't giving up that easy.
I found a race made for what I was trying to do called the Beantown Marathon, and I finished with a time of 3:09:39. That was what I needed. I had finally made it after almost a year of working toward this goal. I was going to run Boston in 2018!
Running was becoming a way of life. It definitely was what I was spending all of my free time doing. It seemed the more work I put into my running, the more results I would see. I was making goals, working hard, and smashing those goals. It felt amazing! I had my sights set on a sub three hour time at Boston in 2018, but Mother Nature had different plans. But that's okay because I got my sub three thanks to a man who seems to bring out the best in people. After that dismal race in the cold, hard wind, and rain, I had no desire to run any other race except Boston. I wanted redemption in Boston; I wanted revenge! I was going to get a great base and take that mother down in 2019, and I didn't have any plans on anything else. Enter Gary Allen…
2018 Boston Marathon
Gary messaged me and told me I had to run the MDI Marathon, that I had nothing to lose, and I was in great shape, and he just knew I had a sub three in me. So I said, "**** it, I'm Bradcrazy, why not?" and went for it, and wouldn't you know it, I ran my fastest marathon to date, 2:58:35, and it felt so good to get that monkey off my back.
2018 MDI Marathon
One of the best benefits I have received from running is the friends I've made. And some of those friends invited me to Acadia National Park for a trail run once, and I haven't been the same since. It happened gradually, but over the course of several trail runs, I was invited to a birthday run of sorts for a friend. It was a 42 miler, over many mountains in Acadia. This was in August of 2018. It was the coolest thing I thought I had ever done. It felt even better than Boston in some ways. I was hooked in a different way; it was running, but in nature with stunning views from high atop mountains. I couldn't just abandon the road, but I had found a new love. I still hadn't gotten my redemption at Boston yet, so that was next on the chopping block. But it would come.
“One of the best benefits I have received from running is the friends I've made.”
In 2019, I trained hard and finally got my sub three at Boston. It was amazing, and I'm glad I can finally say I got it. After that, I was in limbo. I didn't really have any goals and was just running to run. I came across a Facebook ad for "The Great Cranberry 100." I had only run 42 miles previously, but I did know people who had run it the previous year, and I needed something big to reach for. It seems like I feel most alive when working towards hard things to accomplish. I know I'm not getting younger, so I kind of switched gears. If I can't go fast, I'll go far. So with kind of short lead time, I asked a social media friend for help. A long time Crow, Lori M., helped me with a schedule, and I stuck to it the best I could. And I'll be damned if I didn't show up on that tiny island and run my ass off for 100 miles.
2019 Boston Marathon
This past year has brought COVID, but I think it was my best running year to date. I ran a virtual Boston Marathon, a birthday 50 miler in Baxter State Park, Big Brad 50 Miler, Megunticook 50K, Last Man Standing where I ran 46 miles, and numerous other Jenn projects, one of which being all of Maine's 4,000 footers. This all adds to the life that has become Bradcrazy. I live for it, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Bradford in Acadia National Park
Running has taught me so, so much about life and myself. It has given me confidence in life, not just in running. It seems to mirror life in so many ways. You get out what you're willing to put in and what you're willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals.
I will say this. I have never felt more alive and free than when I'm running in the woods.
About the Author
Bradford grew up in the Bangor, Maine area but has lived in Bucksport for the last 12 years. He owns a plumbing business, where he does anything and everything from a drippy faucet to installing a house's complete plumbing system. He has two boys, who are 14 and 11, and one daughter, who is 7.
