63-Year-Old Montville Man's 100th Marathon Dedicated to Cancer Cure

Is running a marathon one of your New Year’s resolutions? Don’t think it’s too late to start.

One Montville man ran his 100th marathon in November. Joe Huber, 63, ran in the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday Nov. 3 as a member of the American Cancer Society's DetermiNation Team.

There were 50,266 runners in total, making it the world’s largest marathon ever, according to New York Road Runners.  He came in 24051st place overall, 17,492 in his gender, 313rd in his age group with a finish time of 04:19:48.

That wasn't the only record breaking number. It also drew a record number of viewers across several programs on ABC7 with an average of 582,000 people who watched the 5-hour race, according to NYRR.

Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya came in first for the men’s category with a time of 2:08:24. Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya came in first for the women’s category with a time of 02:25:07.

Huber ran his first marathon in 1989 and so far, “it has been an incredible journey.”

When he started preparing for November’s marathon, he dedicated this race to three people, battling with cancer, who are very close to him: Sister-in-law Susan, friends Karen and Audrey.

However, “my 100th marathon has just taken on a new urgency.  My sis, Anna, was recently diagnosed with cancer, and now she joins Susan, Karen and Audrey in their fight to beat back this insidious disease,” said Huber. “We need to find a cure for cancer.”

The 2014 TCS New York City Marathon will be on Sunday, Nov. 2, with its new title sponsor, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The runner and volunteer applications for the 2014 TCS New York City Marathon have started and the runner application is open through March 18 and more than 100,000 runners are expected to apply.  They need about 12,000 volunteers to support the race and their application window is open through July 31, according to NYRR.

The New York Road Runners offers custom-made marathon training programs. But if a marathon is too much, take a look at the first three months of the NYRR 2014 race calendar. There are 5Ks, 4-milers,10Ks and half-marathons.