Lee Pollock

From the Track, to the Roads, to Building Schools in Nepal

By Tom O’Grady

Residence: Queensbury

Age: 67

Family: Wife, Linda; Sons, Ryan, Andrew, Daniel

Career: Insurance Broker (Retired)

Primary Sport: Running

Secondary Sports: Nordic Skiing, Cycling, Hiking 

One of the first things you notice when talking with Lee Pollock is his grin. After talking to him about his life experiences, it’s easy to understand why he would always be wearing a smile. During Lee’s lifetime, running has been a mainstay. From competing to race directing, Lee has accomplished a lot, and used running to better himself and others. 

Lee holds the distinction of founding the St. Lawrence University Cross Country team as a freshman in 1970. In 1974, Lee was the individual conference champion, and led the Saints to a team conference title. During his time at St. Lawrence, Lee was a steeplechase specialist in track and field, earning All-American honors in the event in 1974. After graduating with a degree in math, Lee joined the Peace Corps. While in the Peace Corps, he served as a teacher in a small village in Nepal. This would turn into a lifelong connection and he would later use running to help support education in the village. 

After serving in the Peace Corps, Lee moved back to the US. Instead of seeking out a career immediately, Lee wanted to pursue his dreams of competing in the Olympics. In the late 1970s, he moved out to Denver, Colo. to train at altitude. In order to support himself, he took odd jobs such as painting, which allowed him to train and travel for races. While training primarily for track races, Lee ran his first marathon in 1978 at the Empire State Games, and finished in 2:32:38. The games that year were in Liverpool and not Syracuse; this small fact would become important 30 years later. Shortly after his marathon debut, Lee participated in the inaugural BOLDERBoulder 10K in 1979. This event that Lee participated in with 2,700 runners would go on to become one of the largest road races in the world with up to 54,000 registrants in recent years.

During the 1978 Mt. Sac National Track and Field Invitational, Lee qualified for the 1980 Olympic trials in the steeplechase with his lifetime best of 8:42. In the next two years, he put in a lot of training to prepare for the Olympic trials. Lee decided not to participate in the trials in Eugene, Ore. after it became clear the US would be boycotting the Olympics in Moscow. Unable to capitalize on the track, Lee took his fitness to the roads where he placed first in the 1980 and second in 1981 United Bank Mile High Marathon with times of two hours, 26 minutes both years. His 1980 time of 2:26:23 would be his lifetime best, and because it was run at an elevation of over 5,000 feet, converts to a sea level time of approximately 2:21:00.

In the early 1980s Lee and his wife, Linda, moved back to the East Coast in Queensbury. It was at this point that Lee started his career as an insurance broker. In addition, they also started a family and raised three sons together. All three of the boys became highly competitive runners in their own right. Prior to heading out west, Lee was a founding member of the Adirondack Track Club during his last year at St. Lawrence in 1974. This club would later change its name to Adirondack Runners and is still in existence today. Picking up where he left off, and continuing his dedication to the sport, he helped found the Adirondack Association TAC that is now the present day USATF Adirondack Association.

Lee also enjoys Nordic skiing, cycling and hiking, which keep him fit and likely helped extend the lifetime of his competitive running career. When it was time to get into running shape, it’s clear he put in a lot of work and a lot of miles. 

During our conversation, we discussed training and he explained how one of his favorite long runs, several weeks prior to a marathon was a three-hour run. I smile as I ask Lee how many miles he covered during these runs, as I do the math in my head based on the times he was running in those years. “A lot” is his first answer and we both agree that he was covering over a marathon and closer to 30 miles during his fitter years. It was less about mileage but “time on my feet,” which is something every marathoner understands. Lee would simply leave his house and run a route that took him up towards Lake George. When he reached an hour and a half, he would turn home and pick up the pace. To compensate for the increased pace, he would include a couple of well-placed additions that would return him home in three hours. Lee would run his 1990s decade-best marathon at the 1992 New York City Marathon in 2:49:15.

In 1994, Lee and the Adirondack Runners started a low key 5K road race in Glens Falls called the Goblin Gallop. Later it was moved to a two-loop, pancake-flat course, and each loop is almost exactly 2,500 meters. We joke that the start and finish are right next to each other. As the name implies the race is always held in the week preceding Halloween. The combination of a flat course, even-time checkpoints, and crisp fall weather make this a fast course for a personal best. In addition, there is a Halloween costume contest and a 1K children’s race.

During the past 10 years, Lee has capped a tremendous running career with several master’s highlights. In 2007, he ran 2:57:12 at the Philadelphia Marathon. At the time, he didn’t think anything particular of his accomplishment. For reference, a 55-year-old running a 2:57:12 marathon has an age-graded time of 2:31:30, and receives an 82.5% relative standard ranking (anything 80%+ is considered a national standard time). In his mid-50s, Lee was aging like a fine wine and running times that were equivalent to those in his 20s and 30s. Continuing to train, he ran the local Mohawk Hudson River Marathon in 2:57:24 in 2010. At 58, this time put Lee’s effort at an age-graded 2:27:30, and an age-performance effort of 84%. 

In addition to being a national caliber master’s time, he also joined a small group of athletes who had completed a sub three-hour marathon in five different decades – 1970s to 2010s. In fact, Lee was the 17th person in the world to accomplish this feat, and joined the club on the same day as Olympian Joan Benoit Samuelson – who was the first female to accomplish the feat. Longtime runner and editor of Runner’s World, Amby Burfoot, made Lee aware that he was on a short list of people who could accomplish it shortly before the 2010 Mohawk Hudson River Marathon. Lee jokes that his first application was rejected because he accidently put “Syracuse” instead of “Liverpool” for the city of his first marathon. After correcting the mistake his accomplishment was ratified. 

Lee accurately assessed at the time that the accomplishment would likely become more prevalent as he was part of the first running boom. With more people running, and making it a lifetime sport, it only made sense that many additional people would be joining the club in the ensuing decade. Lee was accurate in this projection as the list has almost tripled over the past decade. He took some time off from running to enjoy other sports and hike in Nepal in the early 2010s. It was during this time that he and Linda visited the village he had taught at while in the Peace Corps.

Lee realized that the village’s school needed improvements and saw that he could use proceeds from the Goblin Gallop to fund the effort. Over the past five years, Lee and his wife Linda have raised over $28,000 through the Goblin Gallop to help build a new school building in the village of Tuhure Pasal, Nepal. The new three-story school was finished in May 2019 and is currently being used by 500 students. The benefits of the new school are far reaching. In most schools there is a stark gender difference with them being predominantly attended by male students. While most schools are 80-90% male, the new school has a student population that’s closer to 50% male/female. Beyond education, the space is also used as a gathering place for community events.

Lee’s running has seen several setbacks in recent years. The first came in 2016 when he suffered a tendon tear in his pelvis. While cross training, he was in a bike crash in 2017 and suffered multiple back fractures. Lucky to have not been paralyzed, Lee resumed training only to come down with Lyme disease in the winter of 2018! This most recent illness Lee is particularly vocal about, as he picked up the tick while moving Christmas decorations in his basement. He believes a mouse got into the area where the decorations were and carried the tick into the house. Not realizing the tick had attached itself to his neck he went several weeks before being diagnosed. The long-term consequences have been arthritis in his knee. It’s always important to be aware that you can get Lyme any time of the year and you don’t need to be outdoors.

One thing is clear – Lee has had a tremendous running career and he has had the opportunity to give back to the sport and community in many ways through his involvement. If you have the opportunity on October 26, consider making a trip to Glens Falls to run the Goblin Gallop, to support Lee and his efforts towards improving education in Nepal!

Tom O’Grady, PhD, MPH (thomas.james.ogrady@gmail.com) of Slingerlands is an avid runner, hiker and lover of the outdoors.