Avon’s Dave Coyne Heads to His 46th Boston Marathon

AVON — Livingston County resident Dave Coyne is ready to impress once again this year at the 2017 Boston Marathon.

Over the course of his running career, Coyne has started a total of 45 Boston Marathons, making this upcoming one his 46th, for a total of 1,152 miles run at Boston Marathons alone. Coyne will be competing alongside some other runners from his training group, South of the Thruway Runners.

“I’m optimistic about Boston,” said Coyne of his upcoming race on April 17. “I plan to take it out at 9 minute pace and see how everything holds up. It’s been a good year of training.”

Coyne, 65, trains by running 40 to 50 miles per week, and usually starts 3 to 4 months ahead of time for marathons, starting with lower mileage and gradually increasing the distance and number of days he runs.

“I do cross training. We all do cross training,” said Coyne. “We bike and swim, and as we get closer to a marathon we are running 5 or 6 days a week instead of maybe 4. The first few weeks you’re kind of cautious but the last week you shut it down.”

Coyne and the South of the Thruway Runners train locally in Livingston County in a variety of locations and terrains.

“Quite often we start right in Geneseo at Cycle Craze,” said Coyne about his training and local running routes. “We run on the campus quite a bit, we do hills on the campus, we do long runs once a week, and sometimes we run around Conesus Lake. There’s quite a group, sometimes we get 15 runners on a single day.”

Coyne plans to continue running for as many years as possible, and has no intention of stopping so long as he stays healthy.

“I take it one year at a time. I would love to continue to run marathons until I’m in my mid 80s. If my body holds up, I will—but if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I try to train smart and balance running with cross training to take care of my body. 

For more information on the 2017 Boston Marathon, click here. To follow a specific runner’s live results throughout the marathon, text the word ‘runner’ to 234567 along with the competitor’s name or race bib number.

“I still get excited about Boston,” said Coyne, reflecting on this year’s competition. “I’ve been there a million times, but i still get excited every year.”