Lynner Mike Derby gears up for Marathon No. 22

Running 26.2 miles about four months after having knee surgery is a daunting prospect, yet Lynn resident Mike Derby did just that in the Boston Marathon last year.Not only did he run, he also finished and extended his streak of completed Boston Marathons. This year, he looks to increase that streak to an amazing 22 when he and training partner Terry O’Brien run the Marathon this year.”I was told not to run and to take a year off,” Derby, 57, said of his right knee injury, on which he had surgery at Beverly Hospital in December 2010. And indeed, when he did run the Marathon, he said that at three different points – Miles 9, 13 and 21 – he wanted out.”Mile 21 was down past BC, past Heartbreak Hill,” Derby said. “Heartbreak Hill, all through those hills. I would just think, ‘One hill at a time.’ There is a series of three. On the third one you turn onto Comm Ave. The next 3-4 miles were just painful.”As painful as it was, Derby not only finished, but he finished in the under-six hours required to keep his streak going, clocking in at five hours, 20 minutes.”We made it through,” he said. “The doctor, two days later, told me to stay off the road for three months, no bike, no run, give the knee a good rest.”The Marathon always has a poignant side for Derby, and that is because he runs it in memory of his sister, Linda, who died of liver cancer in 1988.”I’m able to compete because of my sister,” Derby said. “It’s in her memory. Forget the streak. It’s in memory of her. It’s what got me to go from day one, my true love for her.”This year, the Marathon also has a poignant aspect for O’Brien, whose mother-in-law died of liver cancer on April 28, 2011.”I’m running in her honor,” said O’Brien, a Wakefield resident. “She lived at my house and Mike and I would do a training run and she’d ask, ‘How’d the run go?’ I gave her my medal after the Marathon last year. It was kind of an emotional moment.”Both Derby and O’Brien are running for the American Liver Foundation. This year, they will run the Marathon together for the fifth time. They are also co-workers, first at Honeywell and now at ENE Systems.They have run other marathons individually – Derby in Newport in the early 1990s, O’Brien in Chicago and Philadelphia.Their training for the 2012 Boston Marathon began on schedule last November, with the running routes mixing in landmarks on both Derby’s North Shore and O’Brien’s Wakefield.”We would always go from Hawthorne in Swampscott into Marblehead out to the Neck and back, or Nahant around and back,” Derby said.He added that Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield is “very scenic and there’s always a crowd.”As for the Breakheart Reservation, O’Brien said, “We incorporate Breakheart into our longer runs,” adding that because of its hills, “if we do that, it’s early, so we still have legs.”The duo wrapped up a 17-mile run this past Saturday and have 18 more miles scheduled for next Saturday.”That’s it,” Derby said.Derby also said he is looking forward to a family tradition for the past 13-14 years, when his wife Lisa and their two sons, Michael Jr. and Matthew, meet him in Kenmore Square for the last eighth of a mile. Michael Jr. will be home from UMass-Dartmouth to see his father run.Derby gave a special thanks to his wife, noting her role in fundraisers, mailings and thank-you cards, and added, “She does a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes.”Those wishing to make a donation to Derby’s fundraising efforts can call 781-598-5649.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].