Robert Fain while on a political campaign trip to Long Beach, New York recently, entered into a 5K road race as he enjoyed competing in such events and won the event in 16:59.
The field of more than 200 runners included Ronald Joseph, who did not compete in races while attending high school in Queens. Joseph placed sixth with a time of 19:45 in a competitive field outside of the victor.
The 31-year-old Joseph had a good start but gave up after the first two miles of the 3.1 mile event.
“The course was a little bit too long,” said Joseph, whose father Ronald Joseph Sr. originally comes from Trinidad. “Once I knew that my time would be off, I slowed down.”
Coming into the race, his goal was to break 18:45 but many runners went the wrong way, thus slowing down their times.
“If I ran hard for the whole race, I would have done 18:30,” he added.
Now Joseph is out to do a four-mile run this weekend in Bellmore, Long Island.
Joseph Sr. was not an athlete while living in Trinidad. He was not into any sports at all. Now, according to his son, he rides a bicycle in the Rockaways, New York.
Joseph Jr. went in for sports when he weighed 212 pounds in August 2009. At that time, he wanted to get into sports and become a fast runner. He is still running to improve his speed.
He started to run five years ago and did not indulge in any high school or college activities. He attended Syracuse University, more noted for its very good basketball program that has always made headlines and made post season tournaments.
Joseph’s ultimate goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which will take place next spring.
First, he will try to run the Lehigh Valley marathon during the first week of September. In this marathon, his goal is to break three hours. In the meantime, he will do six or seven training races of 15 or 22 miles in the night on the streets of Far Rockaway. His best time for a 5K is 18:18, a 10 K is 38:43, and now he just wants to keep in shape and do well in the marathon.
