Hogarth qualifies for Boston Marathon

Fallbrook resident Arnold Hogarth qualified for the Boston Marathon with his time at the Carlsbad Marathon January 21.

Hogarth completed the Carlsbad Marathon in 4:32. Male runners age 75 and up must post a time of 4:45 or lower to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Hogarth turned 75 in October.

“Finally did it, thank God,” Hogarth said.

Hogarth had run seven previous marathons but had not qualified for the Boston Marathon until the 2007 Carlsbad race. “I was in different age groups, and I was never able to do it,” he said.

This year’s race was Hogarth’s second Carlsbad Marathon. He has also competed in San Diego’s Rock and Roll Marathon three times, the New York Marathon twice, and the Washington DC Marine Corps Marathon.

“You have to really think about what you’re doing and train just right,” Hogarth said. “I didn’t overtrain. I typically used to overtrain.”

Hogarth noted that his other past mistakes included starting off too fast. This year he also changed his carbohydrate loading strategy, increasing his intake the week before rather than the night before. “These few things really helped out,” he said.

Hogarth had also run more than 50 miles a week in past years. This year he ran no more than 38 miles a week. “I think that’s what made the difference, really,” he said. “I still did the long runs of 22 and 20 and 18.”

Hogarth was born in Richmond, Virginia, and after seven years in Philadelphia his family moved to Long Beach. Hogarth attended Long Beach Poly High School; he played the clarinet in the band but did not participate in any high school sports.

The clarinet would turn out to be his ticket to a professional career; he was part of a Dixieland band and also played professionally in symphony orchestras. Hogarth has since given up the clarinet. “I wish I hadn’t, actually,” he said.

Hogarth moved to Fallbrook in 1973. Ironically, so did the woman he would later marry. Arnold and Judy Hogarth met after their previous marriages had terminated, and Judy was a runner when they met in the 1980s. “She was the one who really introduced me to it,” Hogarth said of his wife, who passed away June 14.

“I started taking it up,” Hogarth said. “Then I got really hooked on it, so I just kept on.”

Hogarth’s first competition, with his daughter Lisa, was the America’s Finest City Half-Marathon. “That kind of got it going,” he said.

Judy Hogarth ran half-marathons but never ran a marathon. Arnold Hogarth made his marathon debut at the Rock and Roll Marathon in June 2000. He was joined by his daughter Lisa. “We just kind of wanted to see if we could do it,” he said.

Initially Hogarth thought that the marathon would be a one-time experience, but later he decided to compete in future marathons. Eventually he set his sights on the Boston Marathon and learned that runners must qualify for that race.

Hogarth carried a watch during the Carlsbad Marathon to assess his planned pace times. “I kept real close track of it,” he said.

“I was actually ahead of pace up to 22 1/2 miles and then I hit the wall,” Hogarth said.

“But I had plenty of time,” Hogarth said of slowing down. “I knew I was going to make it.”

The festival itself is known as the Carlsbad Marathon and Half‑Marathon. Lisa Hogarth ran the half-marathon and then walked back 2 1/2 miles to join her father and encourage him.

The Boston Marathon is run on Patriot’s Day, or the third Monday of April, each year. Runners may qualify in a sanctioned marathon up to 18 months prior to their Boston Marathon entry, and since Hogarth will be in Paris through late March of this year and will not have time to prepare for the April 2007 race he will compete in the 2008 Boston Marathon.