By Roy Vagelos
My story begins with our son Randy, who while on a family bike trip in Holland in 1972, decided to abandon his bike and run along with the bikers. I noted his ability to run with apparent ease and even enjoyment. On returning to our home in St. Louis, I thought, “Heck, if Randy can run so easily, I should be able to run,” although I had never been a runner. So at 43 I started jogging in our neighborhood what seemed an exhausting distance of about one mile. In time my training became more regular and the distances longer. I had the impression that running improved my tennis, probably an illusion since I was not very good at tennis either.
During our early days on the Vineyard in 1975, we rented at Mattakesett in Edgartown, where the principal activity for our family was tennis, though we also loved to swim, fish, and jog in the mornings. It was there that I, along with our son Andrew, entered my first organized road race, covering a distance of four miles. The impetus was the enthusiasm of the crowd at Mattakesett, who were into all sorts of athletics at that time, and our children, who wanted to run. So I ran, and it was fun, especially finishing. I liked the feeling of satisfied fatigue and accomplishment at the end.
When the family first learned about the Chilmark Road Race, which is quite a drive from Edgartown, our daughter, Ellen, wanted to run in that race. By then I was still slow, but hooked on running. We decided to run the race together, since Ellen was young and we did not know the territory. I was panting and struggling to keep up with her with about a half-mile to go when I noticed that she was smiling and looked very relaxed. I said, “Take off, Ellen, don’t wait for me,” and she took off like a shot.
It was not surprising that when we began our regular summer vacations in Chilmark in 1996 I, along with my wife Diana and our children, and later grandchildren, joined the annual frenzy on Middle Road in Chilmark on a Saturday morning in August. Running had become a regular part of life, and the Chilmark Road Race was an important part of our holiday. The race events became ritualized: We trained seriously after arriving on the Vineyard, and had a special spaghetti dinner the evening before, followed by a grand dinner party after the race.
As time passed, I ran less frequently at our home in New Jersey, then not at all, having substituted less demanding activities, such as elliptical running and a rowing machine. Of course, my performance in the Chilmark Road Race began to deteriorate as the years passed beyond 70.
Remember, the oldest age group was “70 and older.” As my age approached 80, the gap between me and the younger 70-year-olds made the race increasingly daunting for me. Enter Sam Feldman, who was in a similar age situation, but much more capable of orchestrating change. Sam had the rules changed so that a new age category was added: “80 and older.” Sam and I immediately jumped ahead, being the youngest in our age group, and looked great for a few years.
This year, at age 85, I had decided to forgo the race. I was done! But
Diana laced on her running shoes shortly after we arrived on the Vineyard, and said she was going to train for the race. I was dumbfounded for a few minutes, then I pulled on my New Balance 993 shoes and joined her again. Same old routine — jogging regularly for a month in preparation, spaghetti dinner the night before, then the race — which I hopefully will finish. Then the post-race dinner with family (18 members will run this year) and friends.
So why do I run this race — and do so many other things in life? I try to keep up with our children and Diana.
Editor’s note: Roy Vagelos finished fifth in his age group, 1,285th overall, crossing the finish line with a time of 45:03.05 (edging out rival Sam Feldman, who finished sixth in his age group with a time of 56:14.13).
Roy Vagelos began his career as a physician, then did biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health and Washington University School of Medicine. He is the former chairman and CEO of Merck & Co., and is currently chairman of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and the advisory board of Columbia University Medical Center. He is on the boards of the Nature Conservancy and the National Math and Science Initiative. His current interests focus on biomedical sciences and efforts to combat climate change.