76-year-old local nominated as Runner of the Year
ANDOVER — Joseph Farinella is famous among his running friends for being, well, a little Goofy. That's Goofy with a capital G because he's completed the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge where runners do a half marathon on a Saturday in early January followed by a full marathon the very next day.
In 2013, Disney upped the anti and created the Dopey Challenge which added a 5K on Thursday and 10K on Friday as a preamble to the Goofy. Of course, Farinella, who is 76, took on the challenge to complete the Dopey Challenge the past two years.
Runner of the Year
Florida frolicking aside, Farinella of Andover, has also been in a New York state of mind lately so much so that his racing adventures have gained him the attention of the New York Road Runners Club (NYRRC). He received a letter informing him that he had been nominated for the club's prestigious Runner of the Year award. Out of thousands of runners who compete in NYRRC races each year, Farinella was nominated as The Runner of the Year for the 75-80 year old age group for 2014.
"I was overwhelmed when I received the letter about the nomination," he said.
In order to be eligible for the award, a runner has to compete in a certain number of NYRRC races and volunteer at others. Farinella did the Brooklyn 1/2 marathon, the NY Giants Run of Champions, the NYRR Men's Team Championships, the Autism Speaks of Hope, the Fifth Avenue Mile, the NYC Marathon Tune-Up, the Bronx 10 miler, Grete's Great Gallop, the Dash to the Finish and the Race to Deliver all in 2014 and volunteered at the NYC Marathon Expo packet pick-up to earn the award.
Running journey
Farinella only stared running in 2006 when his daughter gave him a Christmas present of a YMCA membership to The Sussex County Y.
Farinella began entering local road races and the joined the Sparta Runners Club.
"After joining the Sparta Runners Club I realized there's a whole wide running world out there and I wanted to give it a try. So with the help of some very considerate Sparta runners I was able to complete my first nine required races and one volunteer event which allowed me to run the 2011 NYC Marathon. I never really thought I would run it again, but here we are, nine races later and one volunteer event and I'm running it again this November 2015. Life is neat. I have now completed 10 marathons," he said,
Out of all the races he's run, Farinella's favorite is the Brooklyn Half Marathon as that's where he grew up.
"As a senior runner it feels good to know that at my age I can really do the things I dream about," he said. "I feel so very fortunate that I am physically able to make these dreams a reality. I hope that folks my age never give up trying to do the things they want to do and continue to make it happen."