Mika LaVaque-Manty

I only lived in Seattle for three years (1998-2001), but I remain on NoWDead because I made lasting friendships in the PacNW, had some of my most memorable running experiences there, and find the list one of the best forums for running camraderie, training talk - and trash talk. I began running in grad school in the mid-1990s, ran my first marathon in Chicago in 1997 and first Boston in 1998. When living in Seattle, I ran my best races ever (16:20 5K and 4:47 mile); it has been downhill since, except in the marathon. I would run 5Ks if I had the guts and the time to train enough for them, but marathons are what I have mainly been doing lately. The last couple of years, work has kept me from racing at all. The photo is from the finish of Bayshore Marathon (in Traverse City, Michigan) in 2005 (2:48:13). I have not raced since, but I continue to train, for nothing in particular at the moment, and not very seriously. My only claim to running talent is to be my fellow Finn Paavo Nurmi's size: 5'8" and 145lb when in racing shape. In civilian life, I am a professor of political science at the University of Michigan.