Jeremy Anderson beats the odds, reaches his goal of running in the upcoming Boston Marathon

By Tom Westerholm
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON–Jeremy Anderson didn’t start running with the goal of reaching the Boston Marathon, although he will concede – with some prompting – that qualifying for the world’s oldest marathon is “a cool thing.”

Rather, one of the biggest reasons the 49-year-old Muskegon native runs is to impress a woman. 

That woman, to be specific, is Anderson’s wife, Michelle. The couple has been married for 19 years, and for nearly a decade, running has been integral to their relationship.

“Part of me is still like a young 20-something or even a teenager, where you’re trying to impress a little bit,” Anderson said. “I do it because I feel like it makes her proud of me, so that’s a big part of it.”

Despite his protests to the contrary, Anderson has become a talented runner over the years, but he might never have started if it weren’t for Michelle. In 2013, she was diagnosed with cancer – an aggressive melanoma with the potential for lymphedema. Doctors removed a number of lymph nodes and gave the Andersons great news – there were no cancer cells in the lymph nodes. Michelle’s doctor recommended exercise, and she chose running. Anderson decided he would join her. 

Fast forward to last September. After months of training for a destination marathon with Michelle in Missoula, Montana, Anderson fell ill shortly before the race. He didn’t want to waste his training, so he signed up for the Holland Haven marathon.

The time to qualify for the Boston race in Anderson’s age group was 3:20. Anderson managed it in just under 3:14. As he ran across the finish line in Holland, Michelle – who was filming him – let out a shout. 

“He did it!” Michelle exclaimed. “I can’t believe he did it.”

Running has never been easy for Anderson. He wrestled in high school at Mona Shores and enjoyed running as a way to make weight, but he suffers from mechanical issues including scoliosis, as well as a condition called “leg length discrepancy.” 

“Basically, depending on if I’m laying on my stomach or my back, I’ve got about one centimeter difference in length in my legs,” Anderson said. 

Leg length discrepancy can cause a number of issues (including scoliosis), but most notably, it can make running and walking painful. 

Anderson has a system worked out to counter his issues. When he doesn’t feel well enough to run, he works on strength training. When plantar fasciitis hits, he puts a towel under his big toe and does calf raises. He has done pilates and often tries to improve his flexibility. 

“Most runners probably put in more mileage than I do that are qualifying for Boston and running it,” Anderson said. “But I just try to fit in something that’s going to help me improve my running economy when I’m not able to put the miles in.”

Anderson’s love for running extends back to his father, Rick, who ran casually for years and participated in the Seaway Run. Rick died 2 years ago after an arduous battle with prostate cancer.

His father’s death hit Anderson hard. Anderson is the third-generation owner of Acme Cleaners in Muskegon, a well-respected dry cleaner business that he previously ran with his father. 

“We were really close,” Anderson said. “So when I’m running, … part of it is I’m trying to work through some of those emotions. Any time I feel like things are hard, like with some of the issues I have mechanically and it hurts, I think about the things he went through, and that kind of helps me get that extra push because I watched him go through things that I can’t imagine anybody having to survive. …

“I think about him a lot. He inspires me when I run.”

So Anderson keeps going. When he’s healthy, he puts in a lot of miles – battling through Michigan winters and traffic. Sometimes, the Andersons drop one car off in Muskegon, drive to Whitehall and run car to car just to say they ran from one town to the other. 

“That’s not all we do is run,” Anderson said. “There’s a spiritual side of our lives. But as far as the recreational side of things, it’s just a nice healthy thing to do that we really enjoy doing together. 

“We help each other, we help motivate each other, and we just keep doing it because we have fun with it, and we’re able to be together.”

Anderson wants to be very clear about something.

“It’s not like I’m an elite runner,” he said. “I’m sure there are more than a few people in Muskegon County that are going to Boston. But it’s just something where this is what we like to do, and I like to support the running community as much as I can.”

Anderson is, of course, both correct that other runners from Muskegon County are going to Boston and also being modest. The Boston Marathon field includes 30,000 runners, which might sound like a lot, except that Boston is widely considered the biggest marathon in the world. For runners everywhere, qualifying for and participating in the Boston Marathon is an enormous accomplishment. 

Anderson is working on his plan for the race. A field of 30,000 requires runners to be sent out in waves, and the weather in Boston is expected to be unseasonably warm on Monday. Anderson generally walks through the aid stations on a course to get water and nutrition, and he expects to do that in Boston. He also needs to take a close look at a map – directions are not his strong suit.

“You can’t overstate the importance of being prepared,” Anderson said. “… I think now, running up to it, I’m just going to kind of spend some time looking at the map, decide how I want to run the race.”

Michelle wants to run the Boston Marathon in the future as well, and she occasionally pokes fun at her husband, noting that she was the one who got him into running in the first place only to watch him achieve her goal.

Someday, Anderson expects they will both participate.

“I don’t doubt that she’ll qualify and be able to go herself,” he said. “But we’re also kind of competitive with each other, which is another thing that kind of keeps us young. Not to the point where it’s like we don’t like each other. Just enough to kind of give each other a little nudge here or there.”