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Lighthouse lightens up the racing trail
Home News Tribune Online 02/21/08
VERA C. STEK, Running
Many
runners pursue their sport to get fit or stay that way; others love to compete
and run to race well. Darrin Goldman, 32, of Manalapan, runs to "light the way."
Otherwise known as Larry the
Lighthouse, the mascot for the New Jersey Road Runners Club, Goldman has been
running in his custom-designed lighthouse costume for two years. 
"It all started on a cold winter's day," Goldman recalled. "I was running in the Midnight Run on New Year's Eve in Long Branch. As the fireworks were going off to mark the new year, the promenade was lit up with flashes of light. I had a vision of what it might be like if a lighthouse could actually run with us and light the way."
A lighthouse happened to be the
symbol of the New Jersey
Marathon,
the original course of which
started at Sandy Hook, in view
of the
lighthouse, though the course had to be changed in 2006.
"I envisioned a different sort of lighthouse that could light the way for runners, that inspired people, that made them laugh a little, think out of the box. I hoped people would say, "If the lighthouse can run a marathon, so can I!' "
Goldman knew that 32 percent of the participants in the NYC Marathon are first-timers and the marathon distance was booming. He wanted to help encourage people to take up the sport.
So, he headed to The Home Depot and tried out various materials for his first lighthouse prototype.
"I brought it to the clubhouse for a run. The reaction was awesome," he said. "I stopped traffic. People had so many questions and I posed for pictures often. I loved the excitement, the laughter, the comments and the confused looks.
"Kids had the best reactions and the most interesting comments. One kid said he wanted to be a lighthouse when he grew up."
Goldman began racing as Larry the Lighthouse.
"The first race I did (as Larry) was the Manhattan Half in January 2006. By that point I was officially the New Jersey Marathon mascot and proud of it.
"So many people said I inspire them. I'm a back-of-the-pack runner and I love to cheer the runners on. I tell runners to just follow my beacon. They can do it. And really, if I can do it, anybody can.
"I have more fun running with my lighthouse than running without. It adds interest, fun, and I can promote and raise money for Camp Sunshine, a camp for children with life-threatening illness and their families in Casco, Maine."
He volunteered at the camp last summer.
"It was a great experience for me. I was able to bring Larry to a few events and parties. I can't wait to go back."
Running "off and on" since grade school, Goldman was, at first, a sprinter.
"I just enjoyed the thrill of a 1-mile sprint. I started road races in 2001 and the thrill of long-distance racing was a high like no other. I was hooked."
He doesn't pressure himself to finish in a certain time.
"Of course, I'd like to go faster, but as long as I'm having fun that's all that really matters. When I see children laughing or when I hear the nice comments, that really makes my race. I especially love to hear that I inspire people."
When Larry the Lighthouse decided he needed a running companion, Wendy Windmill, aka Sue Ann Ng, membership chair of the NJRRC, was born in the summer of 2006.
Ng had been an overweight, depressed, diabetic couch potato.
"I started walking in 1996 when I was 225 pounds," Ng said. "I just decided one day to get off of my sofa and start to walk, which was all I could do at the time."
She went on a low-fat, sugar-free diet and the weight started dropping off; she lost 60 pounds in six months.
"My walks became trots, then jogs and before I knew it, I was running. It was now a lifestyle change for me.
"I didn't know such activities as racing existed."
In 1998, a co-worker told her about the races held in Central Park by the New York Road Runners Club.
"I thank her for pointing me in the right direction. She introduced me to a whole different world — the world of runners of so many different sizes and shapes. Never in a million years did I imagine I'd be doing what I'm doing now."
Ng trained to run the 1998 NYC Marathon and is still hooked on the distance, 34 marathons later.
After five years of racing every weekend in Central Park, Ng needed a change and joined NJRRC. She was nervous at her first group run because she's a slower runner, but was thrilled to have a new role in helping inspire new runners.
"I enjoy taking newbies to our Sunday routes. It's so much fun to see how far they can go and not realize they've gone 7 or 8 miles when the farthest they'd gone before coming to us was 4 miles. Sunday runs are so much fun, I wish they weren't seven days apart," Ng said.
She loves running as Wendy.
"She (Wendy) is a symbol of the New Jersey Marathon course; there's an actual windmill at WindMill Hot Dogs on Ocean Avenue. And she's the co-mascot of the New Jersey Marathon. She's beautiful and cheerful and recharges runners with a tail wind," Goldman said. "Everyone loves Wendy. She has quite a following. Together we really make a dynamic duo and whenever we do a race together, the reaction is amazing."
Being Wendy isn't easy, Ng admits, since Wendy weighs seven pounds more than Ng does. But she loves being an inspiration.
"We're very popular when we run in Central Park," Ng said. "We're usually at the end of the pack with all the other slow pokes. Tourists videotape us or snap pictures with their cell phones. Many runners try to beat us because they don't want to be embarrassed by being beaten by a lighthouse and a windmill."
Ng races to have fun, not to achieve a particular time.
"Being too serious about finishing a race or marathon under a certain time just takes the fun out of running. When I see someone struggling in a race, I encourage him to stay with me. The goal is to enjoy your 26.2-mile journey, not struggle and be miserable."
In one recent event, a race director tried to physically eject Wendy from the course, but most race directors welcome Ng and Goldman, especially since many runners appear in costume in marathons and other races. Indeed, there were hundreds of Elvises running the Las Vegas Marathon in December and the NYC Marathon boasts runners in all manner of dress.
"We have no issue with anyone, but it bothers me when people prevent us from just going to a race and having fun. I've done over 40 races with Larry Lighthouse, plus six marathons, and everyone in race management has been very supportive and encouraging aside from this one person," Goldman said.
Undaunted, the Lighthouse and Windmill have a new companion who will be joining them on the road: Suzie the Sailboat, fellow NJRRC member Trish Fellner, who ran her first marathon last fall in New York.
"I consider running with these guys a much needed refuge from my daily life," Fellner said.
"When someone tells me they could never run a marathon, I say to them yes they can. All they have to do is just go out and walk like I did. Just do it for a half-hour and before they know it, they'll be doing it for one hour and more," Ng said.
"This doesn't come overnight," she added. "It takes time and effort to build your endurance and building endurance will give you distance. They will be amazed at themselves when they finally sign up for a race and see what they're capable of accomplishing."