Chattanooga resident Bud Wisseman, 77, (who started running at the age of 50) hopes to finish his 28th consecutive Boston Marathon on Monday, April 17. He had to qualify for the first 25, and when he reached that milestone he was inducted by the Boston Athletic Association into the Boston Marathon Quarter Century Club, with the chief benefit being that he never has to actually "qualify" for another Boston Marathon again... but he still needs to finish within the six-hour time limit.
About a week before Mr. Wisseman completed his 25th Boston Marathon and became the only person in the state of Tennessee to be inducted into the Quarter Century Club, the Chattanooga Track Club sent Mr. Wisseman off in pomp and style with its first Run with Bud - which was his last group training run in the Chickamauga Battlefield before the big event itself.
Mr. Wisseman received a special Lifetime CTC award at the CTC Banquet the following January in honor of his Boston Marathon achievements and his induction into the Boston Quarter Century Club, and the club decided to continue supporting his last training run prior to Boston for as long as Mr. Wisseman chose to keep doing the event. So far they've done three of them, and Mr. Wisseman says that this year may be his last, as his aches and pains are catching up with him. He is also an avid rose gardener, and whenever he's not running he spends the rest of his time on his knees in the dirt, which isn't very compatible with running.
Whether it is or it isn't Mr. Wisseman's last year for the Boston Marathon, the CTC again plans to escort him around the Battlefield in style for his last Boston training run of 2017, which will be on Saturday, April 8, in the Chickamauga Battlefield. Participants will meet in the lower visitor's center parking lot and plan on an 8 a.m. start for the run around the Battlefield. All runners are welcome to join, but reminds people it will be a slow 10 miles at a walk/run pace.