Geoffrey Vincent
by Amy Duquette
Before age 40, Geoffrey Vincent had not broken any bones. However, after this point in his life he
broke two knuckles doing karate, fractured his wrist in a roller blading accident, fractured his arm
and sprained his knee from a bike fall, (but did not realize it until after another hour of biking).
It was also after turning 40 when he broke both ankles in an ice climbing accident just three weeks
before the birth of his son, Michael. This injury put him and his pregnant wife, Bunny, on simultaneous
bed rest. "I still climb (rarely), but just rocks - no mountains or ice. Bunny told me to keep the ice
in my drinks, not under my feet."
It can be said that Geoffrey became much bolder after turning 40. "That, or more careless," he says.
Although he had been a runner since 1977, he "...felt for the first time like I was getting old and needed
to try something different...I decided to completely immerse myself in climbing" and set the goal to summit
Mt. Rainer in Washington state. Even though on this climb his group was instructed to turn around before
reaching the summit due to bad weather, in the next two years he reached the 18,490 foot summit of El Pico
de Orizabo in Mexico and climbed Gannett Peak (13,804 feet) in Wyoming.
He had his son Michael when he was in his late 40’s. He decided that because he was "older than most" when
he had his first child, he’d better continue his running to keep himself young and fit. He had taken a break
from the sport after the divorce from his first wife whom he credits for bringing him "...into running and away
from smoking and drinking". Geoffrey ran about nine months before he entered his first race in 1977, the
Rockaway Boardwalk 5K. Since then, he’s completed four full marathons. In 1982 finished the NY marathon
with a PR of 2:49:01, right under the 2:50 qualifying time for Boston. He would suffer a knee injury the
week before his Boston marathon and as a result started, but did not complete the race. "Stuff happens" is
his attitude when these disappointments hit him in life.
He considers himself "kind of competitive", but also has a very accepting attitude about the path that life
lays out for us regardless of our own plans. His early 80’s PRs are quite impressive, including a 1:17:08 in
the 1985 Brooklyn half marathon, what he considers his "absolute best race ever", a 36:27 in the 10K and 17:21
finish in the 5K. He continues to run for PRs, but also for other perhaps more important reasons now. Running
provided a type of "therapy" at difficult times in his life. It now is the vehicle that keeps him young for his
son. The energy he gets back from running he is able to return to his "active and extremely verbal" young son.
Running also gives both himself and Bunny their alone time as they take turns going out for their runs.
Geoffrey works for the NY State Courts, managing their public access and besides getting his miles in on
the weekends, he frequently uses his lunch hour for a treadmill run. He is not a huge treadmill fan but
finds that it helps him to maintain discipline. "You can’t slack off on the treadmill. If you slow down
you’ll fall off. So I play head games with myself and say ‘thank you’ to Apple for the iPod." He finds
that once you have a child, your races get smaller. "You just don’t have the time for the long runs anymore.
I probably won’t do anything over a 10K now, but I would like to get faster at that race." He also plans to
continue biking and climbing.
As far as goals for his son, Geoffrey does not consider himself a "classic little league parent...I do hope
if there are any ‘fast genes’ in me he gets them. But if he does not want to run, then I hope he finds something
else he really likes." So far, Michael has responded positively to the kids’ races he’s completed and asks his
father when the next one will take place.