By Jim Hague
Some athletes use long distance running for physical training and workout purposes.
Rutgers-Newark sophomore cross country runner Gerard Farao takes a different approach, finding solace and peace every time he laces up the running shoes and heads out on a jaunt.
“I do find it relaxing,” Farao said. “It really is relaxing to me, running the long distances. I don’t have to think about things that are going on in my life. It helps me to do other things. When I’m on a long run, I just clear my mind and don’t try to think about anything.”
So to find a certain peace within, Farao regularly goes off on long runs, like marathon-style journeys.
“I just went on a 14-mile run Sunday and I felt great,” Farao said.
He doesn’t have to run those kinds of distances as a member of the Scarlet Raider cross country team. The events that the still-fledgling R-N program competes at are more like of the five-mile variety.
So when Farao finished his first cross country meet for the Scarlet Raiders in a little under 33 minutes two weeks ago, it was actually a major accomplishment – considering the grueling summer the young runner had to endure.
He first had to have four wisdom teeth extracted – two upper and two lower.
“After I had the teeth pulled, it hurt every time I tried to run,” Farao said.
Then, he suffered a knee injury that curtailed any off-season workout regimen.
“He was a little behind the eight-ball,” Rutgers-Newark head coach Juan Edney said. “He couldn’t train much over the summer and that set him back.”
Farao has another obstacle he has to overcome. He is a commuter student, arriving at the R-N campus daily from his home in Jersey City, so he’s unable to truly work out regularly with the other members of the Scarlet Raiders.
“It’s kind of hard to get to practice with the team,” Farao said. “I can’t make it when they’re going out on their own. I maybe get to run with them three or four times a week.”
“When we started, he was a little out of shape and that showed,” Edney said. “It was hard for him to get to practice, so he had to do a lot on his own. But running on your own isn’t the same, because there’s no one to push you. He needs to be pushed.”
Farao also has a hectic schedule, going to and from school, majoring in finance, as well as training and then working. He works part-time at a fast food restaurant.
“I took the job basically because I wanted to see if I would be able to manage my time properly,” Farao said. “I needed the experience in managing my time.”
Edney believes that Farao has solid potential as a distance runner, both for the Scarlet Raiders and beyond.
“I think he’s really more of a 10K kind of guy, because he likes the distances,” Edney said. “He ran 35 (minutes) in his first meet last year and he was at 33 this year, so he’s two minutes ahead of last year’s pace and he wasn’t able to run during the summer. I think he’s now just starting to get into the swing of things, with only a month of training. I think he can go faster. I expect him to step up even further this year.”
Farao knows that Edney has big expectations for him this season.
“I’m very conscious of my times,” Farao said. “I try to push myself to the fullest every single time so I can get better. I think it makes a big difference. My coach tells me that he thinks I can run 28:30 this year. I’d love to do that. My personal record right now is 32:30. It’s a little tough trying to get back, but I’m getting there.”
“He’s a great kid with a great personality,” Edney said. “We are just trying to get him to realize what he can do. He needs the exercise and needs to push himself to a certain degree in order to get better. He’s only a sophomore, so there’s a lot of room for improvement. He just likes to take on so many things. Sometimes, he thinks like it’s high school, but in college, the training is more intense. Once he understands that, then the sky’s the limit.”
Because Farao loves the longer distances, Edney can see Farao competing in marathons.
“I could see him running marathons professionally someday,” Edney said. “He just loves the longer distances and he does well. A mile is like a sprint to him. He runs five, six, maybe seven miles and that’s when he starts cooking.”
Farao is really into his running and even regularly quotes from a popular book, entitled “Once A Runner,” by John L. Parker, Jr., a fiction piece that focuses on the life of a long-distance runner named Quentin Cassidy, a college runner who has to withstand the ordeals and tribulations of training, racing and achieve personal goals. It’s a novel that has been highly acclaimed in the running circles.
“That whole book motivates me very much and in a lot of ways,” Farao said.
When his college days are done, Farao hopes to enter the world of investment banking, a scary thought considering the recent news on Wall Street.
“But it’s what I like,” Farao said. “I am studying the stock market now and may open a brokerage account. But I want to learn a little more first and see what I can do.”
Just like school, work and running, it’s all just a matter of time for Gerard Farao.
