Mike Bierner grew up in a small town near Louisville, KY. He's lived for 34 years in Wilmette, IL, a north shore suburb of Chicago. Mike works at his own business in nearby Evanston, close to Northwestern University. He walks the campus all four seasons of the year during his lunchtime.
Mike has always enjoyed sports with kids, his own and others. He spent many years as a dedicated soccer coach for both boys and girls in Wilmette. Mike and wife, Jean, are now empty nesters, but he likes to joke that their 12-year-old cat Boris actually owns everything inside their house, and they are more like the butler and maid.
Mike runs practically every day. Soon a 69th marathon medal will grace his office wall. He recently received a big thumbs up to run more marathons from the vascular surgeon who performed carotid surgery on him two years ago. Mike is 59 years old and hopes to still be running marathons at age 85.
Some of you may remember speaking with Mike at a race expo M&B booth. Although he's not part of the staff, Mike often helps us out when he's running marathons we visit. He's a big fan of M&B, and we're one of his biggest fans, too.
Mike, you really believe everyone should have a running partner. Can you talk about a little about that?
The bond that develops with a running partner will grow both of you in wonderful ways. It's like hitting a jackpot in your life. But I think I need to point out that the most important running partner you'll ever have is your spouse, even if he/she never runs a step with you.
I run with my buddy Jason practically every weekend. We live about 40 miles apart so we often drive pretty far distances to run together. Jason and I get up at ungodly hours most Sunday mornings to meet up. My wife, Jean, and Jason's wife, Bridget, make that possible. We do races together too, many in other states. Without the support and encouragement our spouses give to us, Jason and I wouldn't be able to enjoy our many shared adventures. We really appreciate that and love the two of them for it.
The harsh fact about running marathons is that you can't just do them without training. Marathoners have to do some sort of progressive long run strategy to establish endurance fitness. It's a whole lot easier to do that with someone else. If you've run with a partner, you know that the run goes by much faster. We don't even realize we've been running that long because we're engaged in long, involved conversations discussing each other's lives or solving the world's problems.
After many years of marathoning and traveling to races, what do you think are the most important things you've learned about running and training?
I think the key thing for me is that I've learned to build long-term friendships through the running connections I make. I have friends all over the country whom I've met at marathons and other racing events. I can't tell you how much that's contributed to my life.
Another thing I've learned is to have fun with it all. I cut up with people and develop relationships while I'm running in a race. I get to know people - let loose a bit. We marathoners spend so much of our time and energy worrying about our finish times. We fret about how we're going to do in some race, and most of us are never going to be anywhere near the front of the pack. That finish time is a tiny thing compared to experiencing places and people, making memories while you're running.
I like to look for interesting or unusual stuff to do when traveling to a marathon. It isn't all about the race, the expo, and the pasta dinner. Here's an example. I've been to Duluth, MN, four different times in 25 years to run Grandma's Marathon. The first time I went there in 1989, I did all the running stuff, the expo, and hung out with my running club friends. The second time, years later, I camped by myself over in Wisconsin at Amnicon Falls State, near Superior. The first night I was there, we all had to go up to the park office while park rangers chased off a black bear that was getting too close to the campground. Then the morning of the race, a wild turkey woke me up foraging around the tent. I was living Wild Kingdom without the camera crew! During my third Grandma's visit to Duluth, I toured everything that you could possibly tour there, then explored the state parks south of the city, too. This last Grandma's visit, in 2012, my running partner and I pursued waterfall adventures over in Wisconsin. There are 11 waterfalls within a 50-mile circumference of Duluth. We explored several awesome waterfalls, then ran the marathon too. My advice? Do some of that.
Here's a final lesson I've learned: On race day, I find a way to have a great breakfast. This can change how enjoyable the whole marathon event feels while you're running it. Late in the game, you'll still be burning your breakfast and actually have some energy to finish the race with. If you do this sport, you have to eat!
You volunteer a lot at races too, even at races that you travel to. Can you share how you feel about volunteering?
Well, volunteering will absolutely mold you into a far less selfish runner and human being. After you volunteer at a water station, you'll never again carry a water cup 50 yards from a water station and toss it down. Instead, you'll know what a pain it is to come that far from the water station to sweep it up. If you've worked a finish area handing food out to exhausted runners, giving them their medals, or helping them retrieve a checked bag, you'll develop a real sense of how important those very basic services are without those runners even noticing it. When you work on a race and then you run one, you'll appreciate everything you see going on around you. It really makes a difference in the whole marathon experience.
Some of my all-time, strongest friendships are with people I've met while volunteering at races. These are people who are selflessly giving of themselves without expecting anything in return - people you want to get to know and have in your life. Young people tell me they have a hard time meeting people and finding friends. I tell them to volunteer at a race. They'll have no problem after that!
You've had a relationship with your local running shop for more than 20 years since it opened. Obviously you have feelings about supporting local vendors.
I've run 68 marathons and countless other races. Without those friends I have at the Runners Edge (my local shop), I'd have been lost trying to figure out how to prevent injuries or even find the right shoes. I was the second paying customer in that place. The owner, Bob Klein, has been my friend that long. We've traveled together, swapping stories and advice about everything from children to injury recovery and even politics and religion, the taboos everyone avoids. If I'd never walked into Bob's shop, that wouldn't have happened. My life is so much better because of the people in that shop.
I've learned about events, courses, training, and had those guys hunt down important stuff at the last minute. They're my support crew. They've helped me get every medal I have in the house, and I have a lot of them. They also put up with me coming in there and telling them my running stories. I talk a lot, so, trust me, those guys in the shop are saints!
When all is said and done, is that $10 you save getting a shoe elsewhere really as important as people who live and work in your community providing this service to you? They're our neighbors, going to great lengths to keep us from damaging ourselves as we often obsessively pursue impossible excellence in this ridiculous, perilous endurance sport.
Any parting advice?
Sure. If you read this article and then recognize me during some race, say hello. We might just end up being life-long friends! 
