Like many of us, David F. Bomke started running to get in shape after seeing a photo of himself that he felt was...well...none too flattering. He was "so appalled," he remembers, on seeing himself holding his first grandson, Calvin, that "I was determined to lose some weight. Desperate to do so, I took up running!" The year was 2002, several years before David became active on BOMA/NY's Energy Committee, where he contributes two decades of energy expertise, and his talent and resources as Executive Director of the New York Energy Consumers’ Council, the state’s largest energy customer advocate and a key voice representing energy interests of commercial building owners. That summer he ran two distance races: a 15K in Utica in upstate New York, and a 20K in New Haven, closer to his home in Connecticut. By fall, he was ready for a marathon and clocked in at just over five hours in the Albany race. Confident he could have done better, he ran the Marathon des Deux Reves in Quebec the following Spring and broke the five-hour barrier. Then it was on to what he calls the best of all marathons—the five-borough race held here in New York. He entered in 2003, but unfortunately hot weather and some foolish decisions slowed him down: "I set a personal worst!"
Training for those early marathons was done "within the context of a battle to lose some weight. It turned out to be mentally engaging in ways that I had not anticipated," David explains. "As one of my colleagues pointed out, marathon running is often a sport for old men, an opportunity for those of us with no skills to participate on the same field as the truly talented runners that lead the pack. Of course, we don't finish as well as they do, but we can still rise to the challenge to complete the journey."
David was even willing to rest on his "past failures" when his good friend Nancy, intent on running her first marathon, inspired him to once again get back on track, and he volunteered to help her achieve her goal of running the NYC Marathon. "This race was special in that I trained for it, and ran it not just for my own satisfaction, but from the satisfaction that comes from encouraging someone else," paying back, in a way, the many friends that had been instrumental in helping him get through his earlier races.
Eight years after he finished his first marathon, David was once again focusing on the blue line--this time alongside Nancy in the NYC November 2010 marathon. "I’m grateful I was able to run the entire distance with my friend," he said. "We encouraged each other, and together, were inspired by others on the course, many of whom were facing stiff physical challenges."