Run Wild Missoula Member Profiles: Bob Taylor

Name: Bob Taylor

Age: 45

Place of birth: Missoula

Occupation: Driver for Coca Cola

What are your short-term running and long term running goals? Short-term, I just want to get back into running after not running all winter. Long-term, I want to complete the Missoula Marathon and the Pengally Double dip without injuries and continue on from there. I want to run the New York City Marathon someday.

Your favorite meal before or after a race? I try to eat normally. I do like to have spaghetti or some kind of pasta the night before, but I can make a case for just about any kind of healthy food. In the morning before the race I eat what I always eat: A small bowl of cereal, yogurt, juice and maybe toast with Nutella on it and, of course, at least three cups of coffee.

What is your favorite song and does it or any other play in your mind as you run? I don’t have a favorite. Usually the last song I hear on the radio or cd will stick in my head as I run. I’ve been to Bloomsday quite a few times over the years and the theme from Rocky near the end always choked me up.

What keeps you running on a bad run day? The running group. Lately I have relied on the scheduled group run to keep me going. There have been times in my running when I didn’t need any external motivation at all, but right now I do. No matter how I feel, or how bad the weather, I am always happy I made the decision to run with the training group.Runners are the nicest and most authentic people I know. I love that you can run up next to just about any runner and have something to talk about. There is always common ground. Almost anything goes. If you are running next to a male or female who is continually blowing snot rockets you can talk about that if you want. I had a nice conversation about that very subject at last Sunday’s run. It is difficult to be in a bad mood when you’re running. Even if I am, I find that I have usually run it out of my system by the time I complete the run.

I am addicted to: running shoes.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Terry Stekly the newsletter begins a new series on member profiles. We hope that you will enjoy getting to know Run Wild Missoula members and we encourage you to say “hi” to them next time your paths cross.