Name: Mike Fertsch
Age: 46
Residence: Wooooburn, MA
Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA
Education: too much
HS: Father Judge (Catholic) High School
College: MIT
Graduate: MSEE, University of California, Berkeley
Occupation: Integrated Circuit Designer, Toshiba
Marital status: Married
Children status: Yes. One.
How long have you been running?
4 years. Was quite sedentary before.
What made you decide to begin running? A friend at work used to run a lot.
I was sick of him saying "Marathon this, marathon that"... I started running,
and eventually I beat him in a race. He stopped talking about running after that.
Seriously, a lot of people at work ran a few races and it became the Monday morning
water cooler talk. I had to run just to stay in the Circle.
Did you run competitively in high school? Are you kidding? We didn't have a track.
I grew up in the city, and we didn't have any Country to Cross!
Did you run competitively in college? I went to MIT; need I say more?
Total number races: 60+, mostly dopey local 5 milers.
Favorite race (and why): New Mexico Marathon (September 2001). A small marathon
(120 runners) with great organization, great scenery and a great time.
Favorite race distance: Distance from my chair to the bar.
Favorite runner: Manny Arruda. He doesn't know me from Adam, but he is my idol.
He always seems to just beat me in races. Whenever I run, I always seem to find
Manny just ahead of me. When I ran Boston this year, I was overjoyed when
I passed Manny at Mile 9. Sure enough, Manny flew by me at Mile 22. Darn!
I'll catch Manny someday!
Favorite running shoe: Brooks Beast
Running PR's (when and where):
Khourys: 28:something. Khoury's on a Thursday night.
5K: 20:15 (Lexington Ambulance Chase, May 2003)
10K: 43:58 (BattleGreen Run, Lexington, MA October 2002)
15K: 1:10:54 (Stew Chase, Lynn, 2/3/2001)
5 mile: 34:13 (Reading Lions, April 2002)
10 mile: 10 miles: 1:04:41 (Broad Street Run, Philadelphia, May 2002)
Half-marathon: 1:38:33 (New Bedford, March 2002)
Marathon: 3:27:08 (Vermont City, May 2002)
Favorite sport other than running: Hiking
Favorite author: Bill Bryson
Favorite TV show: Gilligan's Island
Favorite musician: Arlo Guthrie
Favorite politician: George McGovern
Favorite Firefighter: Manny Arruda
Favorite cereal: Frosted Flakes
Favorite food: Philly Cheese steak
Favorite ice cream: Spumoni
Favorite cocktail: Tanqueray and Tonic