"I didn't really get serious until I turned thirty-five." That was six years ago and, since, Larry Gutierrez has been racing to make up for lost time.

The 41-year old Fenton runner is Michigan Runner's Male Masters Runner of the Year for 2001. When informed of the honor, he appeared somewhat surprised. "Really?" He later evaluated 2001 as "actually a slow year," citing work obligations and "following the kids." "Slow," huh?

Last year, Gutierrez ran seven marathons and twenty-two shorter races, "from one mile to ten, the Crim." But, he added, "I'm more into marathons in the fall and spring. I do shorter races in the summer."

Indeed, since getting "serious," he has completed forty-eight marathons, literally racing to make up for that lost time. He has run them all over the country, from New York and Boston to Las Vegas and Huntsville, Alabama (Rocket City). It's no surprise that his two favorite races are the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon. It's "a toss-up," he said of the two. He's run New York twice and Boston five times.

In 2001, he was the first masters and third overall finisher at the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City with a time of 2:48:47. Very consistent all year, his 2:47:50 placed him second among masters marathoners at the Free Press. He also ran his PR last year, a 2:44:55 at Las Vegas.

Gutierrez recalled, "I started [running] in the Marine Corps. I liked it there and I continued it." He did play some summer baseball and soccer while in high school, but "I was always working," with no time for track or cross country.

That's not the case for him and his family. They all run, often together. Oldest daughter Tara lettered in cross country at Linden High School. Son Eric is a three-letter winner in cross country and track. The youngest of the Gutierrez family, Rachel, just finished her second cross country season at Linden. She won the Metro League Championship as a freshman and repeated as a sophomore. At this year's state cross country meet, she finished 22nd.

Gutierrez remembered how they all began. "Coming out of the Marine Corps, I ran the Tuuri and the Crim, up in the Flint area. That kind of got me started. My wife [Christina] got tired of watching me, so she started [running]. Then my kids started. We'd [he and Christina] do the marathons and they'd [the kids] do the 5Ks or shorter races. It's our recreation together. The whole family runs."

Sometimes the schedule is hectic, very hectic. "But," Gutierrez said, "the family comes first." A recent example came in November, as he was planning his second trip to the New York City Marathon. "We went to the state [cross country] meet on Saturday. And from there, my wife and I drove to New York to do the marathon. We got in about 4:30 [AM]. One of my friends got the hotel room. We caught the bus at 6:30. I got a couple of hours of sleep," he shrugged. And it sounded like he'd have it no other way.

Few would be surprised to discover that Gutierrez trains pretty hard. "I try to keep my training at ten miles a day, but I can't always do that. I guess I average about fifty to eighty miles a week, but that fluctuates.'

He'll mix in some speed work-"mile repeats, quarters, halves." During the winter, he does some of his workouts on the treadmill; he hits the track in warmer weather. If time is at a premium, he has his neighborhood marked off, too, "quarter miles."

"If I'm working toward a big race, I may do speed work twice a week." For a while, he did the faster stuff with Jay Owens, husband of former Free Press Marathon winner Lisa Veneziano. Since they moved to Ohio, he'll do some of his speed work with his kids, during their off-seasons. He quipped that he may not be able to keep up with them much longer.

Another "goal for this year was to make 3,000 miles. I'm at 2800 right now [the third week in November], so I'll make it." He added, "I like to keep my mileage high. I think I'm more of an endurance runner."

Gutierrez is also involving his kids in yet another running plan, "CDs," he calls it: consecutive days. "The kids picked it up at the Paavo Camp, up north. It's a good program." They are seeing how many consecutive days they can run. On recovery days, they just run easy, "maybe only one mile." He's set a goal for the kids-300 days in a row. If they make it, they can return to camp. "That tells me they're serious." There is obviously much about his running that he enjoys. He gets a great deal of personal satisfaction from other runners, "the company, the people. We do these [races] with other families. There's usually a group of us. We run at our own pace and afterward we always have dinner and talk about the race. That's enjoyable."

What about 2002? What's in store for Larry Gutierrez? "Pretty much the same," he said. A number of marathons already dot his racing calendar. And there's always running time with his family. But he also wants "to decrease my marathon time."

He has a plan-to increase his mileage. "I have done 100-mile weeks before. But I was completely drained [at the end of the week]. This year I slowly increased mileage-ten miles every three weeks. I worked up to three weeks at 100 miles. My PR at Las Vegas came after that."

"I want to build high mileage slowly. I'll be trying to get to 130-140 miles [a week] to see if I can improve my time-just for one race." His target? The Las Vegas Marathon again. It's apparent Larry Gutierrez gets a great deal of "mileage" out of his running, in more than one way. He certainly has in six short years, particularly in 2001. And I wouldn't bet we've heard the last from him either.

Congratulations to Larry for being named Michigan Runner Male Masters Runner of the Year for 2001.

Ron Marinucci can be reached by e-mail at RMarin6424@aol.com.