Appoquinimink cross-country coach having a good run

MIDDLETOWN — Andy Shearer knows he jogged 3 miles in 24 minutes on Hempt Road in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 15, 1978.

Oh, and it was a Monday, in a pair of Nike Cortez shoes, while a sophomore at Cumberland Valley High School.

Such information doesn’t just live in his memory, though. Instead, Mr. Shearer, 60, has documented each run he’s taken since then in multiple logbooks.

Notes in these registers include who accompanied him, injuries, his thoughts, conversations or the weather.

It’s quite a feat for an athlete who has run 29 marathons — including three at that famous race in Boston.

“I can’t tell you how many people have said, ‘You can’t end up on an odd number (of marathons).’ I look at them and say, ‘Yes, I can,’” Mr. Shearer joked.

He called his logbooks “diaries” and “a history of me dating back to 1978.”

That longevity is indeed notable and recently recognized by the Appoquinimink High School cross-country team he coaches. The Jaguars — including Mr. Shearer’s son, Benjamin Shearer — presented their coach with a T-shirt displaying a photo of him running and the date he first logged a course.

The presentation was made Aug. 17, before the Middletown Olde-Tyme Peach Festival 5K, for which Mr. Shearer led the pack of about 250 participants on his bike.

These days, the Bear resident said he doesn’t run as much as he used to — accumulating 18-22 miles a week. But he also cross-trains on a bicycle and rowing machine.

When not hoofing it somewhere, Mr. Shearer said he roots for Pittsburgh sports teams and enjoys movies. He also owns two radio stations in Front Royal, Virginia.

Locally, his jogs often take place in Lums Pond State Park, near his home.

“I like quiet, and being in broadcasting, there is a lot of noise,” he said. “(But) that’s what I love about running. I can go over to Lums Pond and run for an hour and not see or hear anything but a squirrel or maybe a fox. ... I like that peace and quiet.”

He also described running as “the thing that has propelled me forward, not just in the athletic avenues but all avenues of my life.”

“The discipline to get up at 6 in the morning, 5 in the morning, when it’s 18 degrees, ... is the same discipline you can apply to anything else you’re doing in life,” he explained. “I found that to be majorly motivating.”

Mr. Shearer said he draws inspiration from his family, as well. His wife, Adrienne Shearer, and his daughter, Aubrey Shearer, are both avid runners, along with his son.

And, while he “wasn’t a great student” in high school, Mr. Shearer said he was an above-average one at Lock Haven University, where he ran cross-country and was a member of the track and field team.

By the time he left college, he held the school’s steeplechase record and had a broadcast communications degree, with a minor in philosophy.

Running continued to be central to his life, and Mr. Shearer coached at Goldey-Beacom College, Middletown High School and Red Lion Christian Academy.

It hasn’t always been a successful run, though, as he suffered a double stress fracture in his spine 15 years ago. It required six months of recovery.

He also endured a bone replacement in his left knee and femur in 2021.

Nevertheless, Mr. Shearer has finished two Boston Marathons, falling short in a third after he went all out in an attempt to achieve a personal best, he said. He ran a sub-2:50 in his first Boston race in 1987, earning 522nd place. He covered the 26.2 miles slightly faster in 1988, before dropping out after 20 miles in 1991.

About participating in Boston, he recalled, “there was something surreal about running that event because, at the time, that was the pinnacle for non-Olympic athletes.”