'Man of Steele' Conquers the Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon isn’t just another 26.2 miles. It is the world's oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world's most prestigious road racing events. In order to run the marathon, entrants must run a qualifying time, based on their age, at another certified marathon. This year’s Boston Marathon was record-breaking, with Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai, 29, running the fastest time in history (2:03:02).

Broadlands resident Doug Steele was there, setting his own personal record and conquering what once seemed impossible.

Steele, now an Ironman triathlete, remembers the awe he felt as a child when his dad, a marathon runner, talked about the storied Boston race. It was “holy ground” for runners and something “untouchable,” to be “admired from afar.” Boston was the race that Steele always thought would be out of his reach, but also was very special to him from an early age.

When Steele married his wife, Molly, they moved into a home in Natick, MA – right on the Boston Marathon course. At that time, he considered Boston to be a great race, still far out of his reach. He remained in awe of those capable of finishing.

In 1999, Steele’s family moved to the DC Metro area. One day, as he sat and looked at family photos he realized he was out of shape and needed to do something about it. He began training.

He initially enjoyed bicycling, and many of his riding partners were triathletes. As time went on he began swimming and running and then, the unthinkable – registering for a triathlon.

In 2003, Steele entered the Worldgate Super Sprint Triathlon in Herndon, his first. Little did he know how much the race would change his life – that day, he won the overall first place award.

After that exceptional performance, he became more serious about the sport.

In 2008, he raced his first Ironman triathlon, consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run. He performed well again, placing 28th in his age group of 283 racers.

Then, after an incredibly hard interval training run to prepare for the 2010 Walt Disney Marathon, one of his training partners unknowingly set in motion what would become one of Steele’s biggest athletic accomplishments by suggesting he could complete the race in a little more than three hours. That encouragement helped flip a switch in Steele’s mind that Boston was something he could realistically consider. Getting to Boston is not an easy journey for most people and Steele was no exception.

Prior to January 2010, Doug had never run a solo marathon. While the third leg of the two Ironman races he completed equaled marathon distances, running a fast marathon is different than running a three-leg endurance race.

During his first marathon (2010 Disney), Steele hoped to qualify for Boston, but something unfortunate happened: his watch wasn’t working correctly. For someone looking to qualify for Boston, having a watch that doesn’t function is a bad thing. Runners use their watches to track their pace – doing math in your head while running isn’t a fun or easy, particularly when it comes to that moment often described as “hitting the wall.”

Luckily for Steele, he found a group aiming to finish in 3:20 and kept pace. At mile 20, he realized that a qualifying finishing was actually possible. So, on an unseasonably freezing cold day in Florida, he qualified for Boston by finishing Disney in 3:20:40.

On April 18, 2011, at age 43, Steele and nearly 20,000 runners stood at the start line in Boston. As he stood at the back of his pace corral he was quite humbled. He commented that it was as if he was the worst of the best.

The race, which for many years didn’t seem like a possibility, was now his reality. As he ran, he tried to soak in the atmosphere around him. He was amazed at the huge crowd support in Boston, which, of course, included his wife and three children.

His biggest challenge during the race came at what is commonly referred to as “Heartbreak Hill” – a series of four really “nasty” hills that start around mile 17 (about the same time people start to hit the “wall”).

But, Steele had a bit of an emotional surge just before hitting “the Hill” when he saw his family on the side of the road cheering for him. He had already begun to get in the “zone” and understood the task before him; it was time to get ready for some serious work.

Steele finished with a personal record of 3:20:30 – but, more importantly, the realization that he had just completed the greatest marathon in the world!

When asked what advice he would give to others who don’t think they can attain these types of athletic goals he said, “You just have to believe you can do it. If you say you can’t, then you won’t.”

He encourages his family in the same way, whether an athletic endeavor, school work or cleaning their rooms. It has become his mantra. He also said that if you want to get faster it is important to train with people who are faster than you. Those people will help push you farther than you have gone before and you will be better off for it.

Currently Steele is part of the Bicycle Outfitters Racing Team. He raced his first Cat 5 Crit at the Richmond International Raceway Criterium this past March. He and his wife are also part of a triathlon team in Ashburn called Team Tri Performance Racing. Follow Steele’s progress online at http://tristeele.blogspot.com/.