Valley Stream man runs far, runs often

People often take up running as a hobby and run every so often, or make it their New Year’s resolution that lasts for a couple weeks. For Anthony Randolfi, running is a way of life.

Randolfi, a Valley Stream resident since 1992, has a consecutive running streak that is longer than several celebrity marriages: he’s surpassed 690 straight days, and counting. Randolfi doesn’t have a particular amount of days he wants to run consecutively, it’s just hard for him to imagine a day without running.

“It’s like a lifestyle for me,” he said. “I get up every day and it’s the only thing I think about, the only thing I care about.”

Randolfi normally runs between 10 and 11 miles every day, but when he’s training for a marathon that number jumps to 15 miles. He usually trains in Central Park, but on days when he’s not working, he likes to run at Hendrickson Park, the Long Beach boardwalk and around Hewlett Harbor.

He has ran five full marathons — 26.2 miles — in his career and recently qualified once again for the New York City Marathon in November after posting a time of 1:22:31 in Sunday’s Long Island Half Marathon —13.1 miles.

In 2008, Randolfi ran his first marathon on Long Island and met his current coach, Paul Festcher, after the race. Randolfi called Festcher a tremendous help and said he has greatly impacted his running career.

Randolfi, 30, won the fourth annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Team In Training Fun Run in Long Beach on April 21. The four-mile course was held on familiar territory for Randolfi — the boardwalk.

The next day, April 22, Randolfi posted his second victory of the weekend in the third annual Jeanne Crotty 5K Walk-Run at Wantagh Park, with all proceeds from the race going Sloan Kettering and New York University Hospital for Melanoma research. This race meant something special for Randolfi.

“My mom has melanoma so it was kind of emotional for me,” he said. “I wanted to win that race for her.” Randolfi ran the 3.1 miles in 17:47.

In 2009, Randolfi had his own health scare during the New York City Marathon. Just beyond the 19-mile marker he felt what he thought was a stomach cramp and stopped racing for 28 minutes. He then finished the race with enough time to spare to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but two weeks later Randolfi received word that he had portal vein thrombosis — a blood clot in the portal vein of his liver. He was bedridden for two weeks, but once he was able to stand he was running again.

The next year he ran the New York City Marathon again and 13 days later he ran an Ultra Marathon — 37.2 miles — in Central Park. He placed 12th.

In addition to his coach, Randolfi said his parents, Tony and Nancy, and God play a big part in his dedication and ability to succeed.

His ultimate goal is to qualify for the Olympic marathon trials in 2016 or 2020. Currently, Randolfi’s personal marathon-best is two hours 59 minutes, achieved in a race in Valley Stream, but he said he would have to cut that down to about two hours, 19 minutes to qualify. “I just feel that there’s another level to be achieved and in time I feel like I can do it, God willing,” Randolfi said.

Randolfi has also kept a running log since he started competitively running at Hewlett High School. He said he has a shoebox full running logs, and is filling up a second, but it’s likely there will be a few more shoeboxes filled up by the time Randolfi is finished.

“It’s spiritual, it’s who I am,” he said. “I can’t imagine a day without running. I have to get out there and run. God gave me a gift and I just want to continue doing it.”