Boston Marathon race director to run with his 3 kids - and astronaut Sunita Williams

"I was a senior in high school, and I just said I wanted to run in it. Long story short, I dropped out in the hills in Newton. He didn't complete the race, and was taken by ambulance to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, he said. Still, he vowed to give it another shot."

"I'm running, and I'm like, 'Oh, my God, my parents are right. I shouldn't be in this race.' I was struggling and struggling, and I got to the point where I dropped out the year before, and I'm doing a survivor shuffle over the hills in Newton."

"I said to myself, when I finished, I'm going to run this race every year for the rest of my life. I've run it, one way, shape or form, for the last 53 years."

Dave McGillivray, the longtime Boston Marathon race director, will participate in his 54th Boston Marathon while running with three of his children: Max, Luke, and Elle. Before joining them, McGillivray will fulfill his race director duties coordinating the start in Hopkinton, managing wheelchair athletes, handcycle competitors, elite runners, and initial participant waves. McGillivray's marathon journey began in 1972 as a 17-year-old unregistered runner who dropped out in Newton. He returned in 1973, determined to finish despite illness and parental discouragement. After completing that race, he committed to running the Boston Marathon annually for life, a promise he has maintained for 53 years.

Read at Boston.com