Neal Novak

Neal Novak
Resides in: Allentown
Years running: 35
Bio: Allentown native, currently academic advisor at LCCC, I have been heavily involved in the Lehigh Valley running scene for the past thirty-five years, having been an officer in both of the local running clubs that eventually became LVRR. I am sixty-three years of age and can’t believe it. I swear I missed a decade somewhere along the way.

What do you enjoy most about running?
It should be noted that I had a hip transplant three years ago so my running went from 50 miles plus to about 12 to 16 a week, but it is the people I use run with daily at one time and now three or four times a week that give me the most enjoyment and motivation

What are your favorite training foods?
Sugar, caffeine and alcohol not necessarily in that order.

What is the strangest/funniest thing that has happened to you on a run?
On a training run on a secluded trail I came upon a camera man taking pictures of nudes

What is your biggest running accomplishment and why?
I think my biggest running accomplishment does not have a literal running moment but rather it has to be being one of the founders of the Emmaus Road Runners which eventually turned into the Lehigh Valley Road Runners. That young club did so many innovative things. With a good friend of mine we staged the first triathlon held east of the Mississippi, 1979. Today those six people who sat behind Emmaus High School and started a Club has grown to almost 450 members and fund enumerable scholarships and youth activities.

Best piece of running advice you’ve ever received?
Never run the first mile of a race faster than the last.

Most embarrassing race moment?
Showing up for a race a day late, it was Saturday, not Sunday

What would your family and friends tell us about your passion for running?
It is (was) consuming.

Best race experience?
Running a Half Marathon up Mount Fuji

Do you have a favorite race?
Any LVRR race