1: The number of times I have dropped out of a marathon in 155 starts. I dropped out of the first one, and have since finished 154 in a row.
5: My children, the most important part of my life
7: The number of marathons I ran this January (2018) in 7 days on 7 continents
8: Martin Richard’s favorite number, which has now become one of my favorites, too, in memory of him and his charity running team, MR8
100: The Boston Marathon bib number I am now assigned every year
120: The number of miles I once ran in 24-hours
634: Yards from the Boston Marathon left-hand turn onto Boylston St. to the finish line
1884: The number of laps I once swam in the Medford High School pool in 24 hours, equal to about 27 miles
3,452: The number of miles I covered while running across America in 1978
Dave McGillivray is the race director of the Boston Marathon, and founder of DMSE, a race and event management company. He has completed 45 consecutive Boston Marathons.
