Gary Milliken

Runner's Profile: Gary Milliken
By Joe Howell

Veteran go kart racer, cross country cyclist, passionate backpacker, Buckminster Fuller archivist, and sooner or later to be famous author and/or inventor- classic attributes of your average SBAA runner? Hardly.

If you frequent the local races, you undoubtedly have seen Gary Milliken. You now have many topics on which to engage Gary in conversation. He is not only a strong, dedicated runner, but a fascinating guy. In keeping with my new tradition of creating/perpetuating nicknames for those in our local running community, how about Reno (as in Renaissance?) Man as Gary's sobriquet? Reno Man could soon be at the start line of the next race with other favorites like Bonecrusher, Lance Leglifter, Remo Man, Rocket and the young Bevo.

Gary, who despite rumors to the contrary, claims he did not win this year's LA Marathon

Name: Gary Milliken
Age: 55
Nicknames: Gar (Gary without the ee)
Hometown: Born in Walter Reed Army Hospital, Wash. D.C., moved many, many times.
Favorite Food: bananas and peanut butter, but not together.
Favorite Movie: Dersu Uzala

Employment: Fund for Public Interest Research. Previously I maintained the Buckminster Fuller Archives in SB until they were acquired by Stanford University. Before that I worked in light manufacturing on deep sea diving helmets, electric busses, kidney machines, and other things, all non-warfare technologies.
Family: Wife Gail has been operating the gift shop and bookstore at the SB Botanic Garden for almost twenty years. Two cats, both with 100% fast twitch muscles. My father was a West Point Graduate and spent his military career in finance. He was General Patton's finance officer. My mother was a dietitian. My sister works for Wellpoint in Thousand Oaks. My brother is the racing manager for Garrett Turbochargers, a division of Honeywell, and lives in Signal Hill.
Other sports, hobbies, interests, etc.: I participated in baseball, basketball, and soccer ages 11 to 15. Then my brother and I raced go-karts around the United States until I was 26. Our racing was self-taught including building the frames and motors, which gave us a good background in machine shop skills, welding, and testing ideas. Now my passion, besides running, is backpacking. I like routes without a trail. I read mostly non-fiction. I like using my head, my hands, and learning what nature has to teach.

My friends describe me as: easy going, a careful planner.
If money were not a consideration, I would love to: have my own machine shop to develop widgets and inventions, travel, run.
In the next 5 years, I hope to: co-write a book on propaganda. I am working on it now.
In the next 10 years, I hope to: have some of my widgets and inventions fully developed and operating including an ultra lightweight bear-proof food canister, an ant-proof cat dish, an ultra-quiet muffler for weed-eaters, as well as some top-secret projects.
Accomplishments: I rode my bicycle across the U.S. in 1977. I continue to backpack in the Sierras and The Los Padres. I did a 10 day trip by myself in Evolution Valley and the Ionian Basin in 2001, and a 16 day trip from North Lake on the east side of the Sierras to Wishon Reservoir on the west side, with Gail and three friends in 2002.

Favorite Distance and PR: Half marathon. 1990 SB Half marathon 1:31
Best Race and Why: Lompoc Half Marathon 1991. I was in the outhouse when the starting gun went off so at first I thought all was lost. I forgot about time and place and focused on relaxing, concentrating on running smoothly, and just having fun. I ended up nearly setting a P.R despite starting 100 yards behind.
Worst Race and Why: 1989 SB News Press 10K. I got heat exhaustion and an ambulance ride. I finished the race but have no memory of the last three miles. A made a number of beginners mistakes about dehydration, over-training, and knowing when to quit.
Average Weekly Mileage (last 12 months): 35
Favorite Local Race: Orchard to Ocean 10K for it's course layout, Nite Moves for the live music afterwards.
Most Memorable Running Experience: Valley of the Giants Marathon for running among the redwoods, Death Valley Marathon for the solitude and desert beauty.
Favorite Place to Run: Along Atascadero Creek to a loop around More Mesa. Mountain Drive.
Glory Days PR: I don't have any blazing times. My best age graded races are all in the last three years because I'm training more consistently now. I nearly broke 20:00 at Nite Moves twice in 2003.

Realistic Running Goals for this Year: Finish in the top five in the SBAA Grand Prix Series.
Wildly Optimistic Running Goals for this year: Break my 15-year-old half-marathon PR of 1:31:46.
Lifetime Running Goals: To find the right balance between running and other life activities. To run out of town occasionally, including the Boston Marathon.
Local Running Heroes & Why: Patsy Dorsey, Aaron Gillan, Vern Caloudes because they are always so cheerful.
Personal Training Tips: If you are new to running read one of the books by Galloway, Glover or others and stick with one program for a season.

Why I Run: Running continues to remind me that the body has it's own wisdom. It helps me go out of my head, which is occasionally a good thing.
I love runners who: say hi
I don't care for runners who: bolt at the start of a race and then slow down dramatically.
Suggestions for local races: Start the hot weather races very early in the day.
Suggestions for SBAA: A Goleta Lemon Festival race with lemon-yellow tee shirts or yellow coffee mugs? The SBAA does a great job!

My views on: Fast is fun but isn't necessarily better in the long term, in running and in life.
Add Anything: Don't watch TV.
Favorite Quote: "In 1913 I was on Harvard's cross-country squad. Our coach was Al Schrub, at the time the world's fastest ten-miler. One day he came along side me as I ran and said, "why are you running with your hands?" I replied, "I am not doing so." He asked, "Why then are you wasting all that energy to clinch tight your fists?" I relaxed my fists. Schrub proceeded to eliminate a dozen ways in which I was wasting energy and I began seemingly to leap effortlessly, almost to fly along. Schrub spurted away from me saying, 'Take it easier and go faster.'" - Buckminster Fuller

SBAA Member since: Don't know. I ran in the first Nite Moves series though. I think that was 1989.