10K Veterans Still Going Strong

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Lawrence Meyer saw plenty of familiar faces at Saturday’s 38th annual Palisades-Will Rogers Run, none moreso than that of Paul Junger.

Both men have run the 10K every year since the race started in 1978 and although they’ve slowed down a bit with age they haven’t lost their enthusiasm for their annual Fourth of July tradition.

Junger, 74, lives in West Los Angeles but his brother George lives on El Medio. He ran the 6.2-mile course in one hour, 31 minutes and 54 seconds  – eight seconds faster than last year. His best time is between 47 and  48 minutes. He ran 1:22:48  in 2013.

“It seems like every year there’s a few more people and the mile markers get a little farther apart,” Junger joked last July. “I do more walking now than I used to so I can conserve energy. I used to jog the whole way but now I speedwalk certain parts.”

Meanwhile, the 68-year-old Meyer finished in 1:27:52 Saturday after a 1:25:10 clocking in the heat last year and a 1:22:14 effort the year before.

Meyer, who lives in Glendale, remembers being impressed by the t-shirt when they were handing out flyers for the first Palisades-Will Rogers race during the Brentwood 10K in 1978. That convinced him to sign up and he’s collected a new shirt every year since.

“My wife talks about making a quilt out of all the shirts,” Meyer said. “They’ve gotten cooler every year but I still always wear the one from the first race even though it’s getting pretty worn out.”

Meyer has run marathons on every continent – including eight in Europe – and has run the Los Angeles Marathon 13 times. He recalled running the Palisades-Will Rogers switchbacks alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger shortly before he became governor.

“One that stands out to me is 1989 when I had surgery for a ruptured disc in my neck,” Meyer said. “I wasn’t going to run, but I ended up making it over here. I finished fifth from last, but I did it.”

For the first eight years the Palisades-Will Rogers Run was strictly a 10K (the 5K debuted in 1986), so veteran runners like Junger and Meyer didn’t have the option of a shorter race if they were feeling less than 100 percent.