Thomas E. T. O'Connor, Vice-President
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| Thomas O'Connor, Vice President |
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Thomas was born and educated in New York. He has also lived in Atlanta, Houston, West Palm Beach, and Las Vegas. His job as Vice-President of Sales for a Molecular Diagnostics company relocated him in 2006 to the great city of Austin. He ran competitively in high school, but dropped it to focus on his education and career. It wasn’t until 2004 that he set his sights on completing a marathon. He had to challenge his North American sales team with a task (doubling their annual quotas when a 10% increase was the norm) that they thought would be simply too large to accomplish. He gave a speech of “Believe and Achieve” on being able to accomplish things far greater than one thinks they can by setting clear goals, creating a plan and executing. During this talk the team challenged him to do something equally as difficult. The task he agreed to would be complete a marathon. At 40-years old, and weighing about 205 pounds, and having not run a single step in God knows how long, he accepted the challenge. Both the team and Thomas achieved success in reaching their goals. Thomas is now about 150 pounds, running 60 to 70 miles most weeks, and is training to break 3 hours at Boston in April of 2008.
Thomas joined the Twenty-Six Two Marathon Club shortly after relocating to Austin in 2006. Thomas quotes, “My running has inspired a belief in me that I can achieve things that others can only dream of. When I set my goals, build a well designed plan and take it one step at a time, I can make great things happen in all areas of my life.”
Notable races and finishing times:
Marathon of the Palm Beaches (November 14, 2004) - 3:42
Miami Tropical Marathon (January 30, 2005) - 4:02
Las Vegas Marathon (December 4, 2005) - 3:37
2006/2007 Austin Distance Challenge of 101 miles (7 races) - 12:51:41
AT&T Austin Marathon (February 18, 2007) - 3:23
111th Boston Marathon (April 16, 2007) - 3:38
Dallas White Rock Marathon (December 9, 2007) - 3:02
3M Half Marathon (January 27, 2008) - 1:23:02
112th Boston Marathon (April 21, 2008) - Goal is 2:55
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