Ben Harvie is a longtime member of HARRA, a member of the HARRA CPR-AED team, and represents the Terlingua Track Club... and he has quite a story to tell, and, quite honestly, I am unsure if this web server has enough memory to chronicle the accomplishments and impact of this man. I also feel completely selfish indulging in such an interview, as I feel he should be compensated for his time, for I sit with a man with far-greater initiatives than talking track, but Ben is generous with his time, and I am ever so grateful. And so I hope you enjoy the insights of this modern day renaissance man...Ben Harvie started running in the 7th grade and ran at LaMarque High School, with memories of running behind the DOT mosquito fogging trucks in the alley of his house in Galveston. President of his Senior Class, Ben managed a 4:36 Mile, which was good for 3A, but did not get him out of the District.
Ben then attended the University of Houston and joined the Cougar Cross Country team under Johnny Morriss and Al Lawrence in the glory days of UH running. Immediately, under the guidance of Al Lawrence, Ben improved to a 4:19 Mile and 14:45, 3 Mile, as the sixth man on his team, which placed 10th at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. However, he was unable to compete due to a ruptured appendix. Ben then focused on graduating and attending Law School, still running, but slipping into the 22-minute range for 5K's and 4-hour Dallas Marathons while raising his four children.
Ben is currently a senior shareholder at Novelli, Harvie & Huzenic Attorneys at Law in Houston, has been licensed by the State Bar of Texas since 1971, and is licensed to practice in the United States Supreme Court. Furthermore, Ben is also an adjunct faculty professor teaching Aviation and the Law at Baylor University. How is this possible? Well, he just flies his Cessna 182 to Waco during the week for his classes... as Ben is an avid pilot.
But back to running. On October 17, 1989, overloaded with life's stresses, career success, and training for the Houston-Tenneco Marathon, Ben's heart stopped after a 6-mile run and a cold shower at the park. He had continued Ventricular Tachycardia (VT, a fast heart rate, usually over 100 beats per minute) and three defribulators over 15 years. He continued to run, but any increase in pace was a shock, so his times were recreational at best, until he was celebrating his 50th birthday on the Santa Monica, California Pier, and raced easy, but because of the new age group (50-54), he placed and he was hooked and commenced serious training. He reconnected with Al Lawrence and immediately the coach-athlete relationship paid dividends, as Ben ripped a 3:03 at Austin and a 3:15 at Boston the following year.
Ben has already qualified for the Chevron Houston Marathon's Invited Elite Athlete program, and has done so since 2006. He has also captured the first two 2009 HARRA Fall Series races (10 Mile in 1:08:53 and the Half Marathon in 1:31:30) and captured the HARRA Fall Series Runner of the Season for the 50+ Age Group since 2006.
However, Ben does not only run to stay focused and motivated, as he morphs into a world-class duathlete and triathlete in the summer months, and has been a member of Team U.S.A. at the ITU - World Championship-Duathlon five (5) times. As a Veteran Athlete (50+), Ben boasts personal bests of 18:41 for 5K, 31:06 for 5M, 38:00 for 10K, 1:26:08 for the Half Marathon, and 3:03:21 for the Marathon distance.
But back to running. On October 17, 1989, overloaded with life's stresses, career success, and training for the Houston-Tenneco Marathon, Ben's heart stopped after a 6-mile run and a cold shower at the park. He had continued Ventricular Tachycardia (VT, a fast heart rate, usually over 100 beats per minute) and three defribulators over 15 years. He continued to run, but any increase in pace was a shock, so his times were recreational at best, until he was celebrating his 50th birthday on the Santa Monica, California Pier, and raced easy, but because of the new age group (50-54), he placed and he was hooked and commenced serious training. He reconnected with Al Lawrence and immediately the coach-athlete relationship paid dividends, as Ben ripped a 3:03 at Austin and a 3:15 at Boston the following year.
Ben has already qualified for the Chevron Houston Marathon's Invited Elite Athlete program, and has done so since 2006. He has also captured the first two 2009 HARRA Fall Series races (10 Mile in 1:08:53 and the Half Marathon in 1:31:30) and captured the HARRA Fall Series Runner of the Season for the 50+ Age Group since 2006.
However, Ben does not only run to stay focused and motivated, as he morphs into a world-class duathlete and triathlete in the summer months, and has been a member of Team U.S.A. at the ITU - World Championship-Duathlon five (5) times. As a Veteran Athlete (50+), Ben boasts personal bests of 18:41 for 5K, 31:06 for 5M, 38:00 for 10K, 1:26:08 for the Half Marathon, and 3:03:21 for the Marathon distance.
HN: Ben, first and foremost, how do you do it?
BH: It’s in the genes. My dad ran at the 1929 SMU Relays and lived to be 97.5 years old. Mike Novelli is my nephew and he held the Southwest Conference 5000m record. My nephew, Dan Novelli’s son, Weston, is competing at Strait at this moment. My daughter placed 2nd at Dallas at age 14 and ran at North Texas. My three sons ran, but ended up playing soccer. My family has always run. I rarely get injured because I never push to the level of most competitive runners, usually settling for less mileage and fewer records. Since 50+, I have competed in over 200 races. I just love to race, win or lose. I don’t get discouraged when I get beat because it was common when at the Univeristy of Houston, but running behind Howie Ryan, Dan Green, Leonard Hilton, just to name a few, just made me the best I could be. Nothing special, just adding depth to the highly touted team, and jokingly bringing up the rear.
HN: Why do you train?
BH: Just to race.. winning is icing on the cake.
HN: What is your favorite distance and/or discipline to race?
BH: Just whatever the race is that weekend. I like multisport because it makes you appreciate other disciplines and keeps me humble. I’ve done many Duathlons and Triathlons, since 1984, as my debut was with Jack Lippincott’s father. He beat me. Usually they were done without training until I accidently found myself competitive as a Veteran (50+). I’ve done a few Ironman 70.3s, but was challenged to do the Ironman in Canada (20th in 14:50:38). The people are great and the challenges with great and dedicated athletes is exciting. But, I did not train to my full potential and am now temped to "tri" again with more specific training. The trouble is that Triathlon training interferes with my Marathon training and I can’t excel at both. When my Marathon time ranked me in the World for my age, I was encouraged to go after the Texas age record at 61 and got it with a 3:04:34 at the 2008 Chevron Houston Marathon. However, Duathlons are great for me because of the two runs. I would like to qualify for Team USA again because of the international competition and travel.
HN: What are your goals for 2009 and 2010?
BH: I want to stay competitive, but uninjured and healthy and not let the wheels come off as I begin to feel the effects of aging, which clearly requires more recovery. Houston, Austin and always maybe Boston. I really like the Bay Area Multisport group as they encourage all who come in with handicaps like I do in swimming and biking. So, I get back on the bike and into my speedo in the spring and summer.
HN: Speak to us about your role on the HARRA CPR-AED team?
BH: There are so many resources at HARRA that it is a loss if any runner does not join. I have fun with all of the clubs and have run with many of them at various times in my career. Terlingua has my guys in it so I stick with my guys, but I train and am a member with BARC because I see them all the time, they are my friends, and I enjoy watching their progress and successes. Bayou City has great guys too, I just can’t keep up with them and 7 Hills in Huntsville has Ken Johnson (and many hills). I have enjoyed participating with Dr. Bob and his AED team, so much so, that I am advocating AED teams for multisport through USAT, IRONMAN and Bay Area Multisport.
HN: Can you give us a glimpe into your training log?
BH: It’s in the genes. My dad ran at the 1929 SMU Relays and lived to be 97.5 years old. Mike Novelli is my nephew and he held the Southwest Conference 5000m record. My nephew, Dan Novelli’s son, Weston, is competing at Strait at this moment. My daughter placed 2nd at Dallas at age 14 and ran at North Texas. My three sons ran, but ended up playing soccer. My family has always run. I rarely get injured because I never push to the level of most competitive runners, usually settling for less mileage and fewer records. Since 50+, I have competed in over 200 races. I just love to race, win or lose. I don’t get discouraged when I get beat because it was common when at the Univeristy of Houston, but running behind Howie Ryan, Dan Green, Leonard Hilton, just to name a few, just made me the best I could be. Nothing special, just adding depth to the highly touted team, and jokingly bringing up the rear.
HN: Why do you train?
BH: Just to race.. winning is icing on the cake.
HN: What is your favorite distance and/or discipline to race?
BH: Just whatever the race is that weekend. I like multisport because it makes you appreciate other disciplines and keeps me humble. I’ve done many Duathlons and Triathlons, since 1984, as my debut was with Jack Lippincott’s father. He beat me. Usually they were done without training until I accidently found myself competitive as a Veteran (50+). I’ve done a few Ironman 70.3s, but was challenged to do the Ironman in Canada (20th in 14:50:38). The people are great and the challenges with great and dedicated athletes is exciting. But, I did not train to my full potential and am now temped to "tri" again with more specific training. The trouble is that Triathlon training interferes with my Marathon training and I can’t excel at both. When my Marathon time ranked me in the World for my age, I was encouraged to go after the Texas age record at 61 and got it with a 3:04:34 at the 2008 Chevron Houston Marathon. However, Duathlons are great for me because of the two runs. I would like to qualify for Team USA again because of the international competition and travel.
HN: What are your goals for 2009 and 2010?
BH: I want to stay competitive, but uninjured and healthy and not let the wheels come off as I begin to feel the effects of aging, which clearly requires more recovery. Houston, Austin and always maybe Boston. I really like the Bay Area Multisport group as they encourage all who come in with handicaps like I do in swimming and biking. So, I get back on the bike and into my speedo in the spring and summer.
HN: Speak to us about your role on the HARRA CPR-AED team?
BH: There are so many resources at HARRA that it is a loss if any runner does not join. I have fun with all of the clubs and have run with many of them at various times in my career. Terlingua has my guys in it so I stick with my guys, but I train and am a member with BARC because I see them all the time, they are my friends, and I enjoy watching their progress and successes. Bayou City has great guys too, I just can’t keep up with them and 7 Hills in Huntsville has Ken Johnson (and many hills). I have enjoyed participating with Dr. Bob and his AED team, so much so, that I am advocating AED teams for multisport through USAT, IRONMAN and Bay Area Multisport.
HN: Can you give us a glimpe into your training log?
BH: The short sort story is that I like as little mileage as possible, getting into the 50 mile/week range a few times each season, and doing 6 miles at Memorial park at 7 minute pace, which is my hopeful Marathon pace. Track on Tuesday, 6 miles at 7PM on Wednesday, 6 miles easy at Blackhawk on Thursday. Swim on Friday, Race on Saturday or Sunday with the other day off. On the nutritional end, I like Hammer products and don’t take anything except Vitamin E, Fish Oil, Garlic and an Aspirin. Plus, Dr. Carwyn Sharpe, my coach, added the dimension of scientific fueling to my training, something that in my opinion is even more important than the training for an Ironman. In short, I want to run when I am 70 plus and stay competitive like Ino Cantu and those few who hang in there. The age groups keep getting smaller after 50 and there is a reason. Just showing up will be the ultimate goal and beating as many young guys as possible. Even if you don’t beat them, the fear that some old guy might get them makes them better runners. And that is what I enjoy.
