On Nov. 2, Joe Cacciola, 77, owner of Sea Star Charters in Oceanside, went out for a run, always part of his fall routine: gradually ramping up distance and intensity in preparation for the Carlsbad Marathon, an event he has run every year since 2000.
Through the summer, he keeps it light — four- or five-mile maintenance runs around Batiquitos Lagoon. But that day, he pushed nine miles.
The next morning, his left leg ached. Two days later, he could barely walk. For the first time in 24 consecutive Carlsbad Marathons — he ran the half marathon in 2000 and the event wasn’t held in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic — Cacciola’s streak was in jeopardy.
“What bad timing,” Cacciola told The Coast News. “I need to be building up speed and distance. I was out completely for a month. I couldn’t do anything.”
Cacciola’s piriformis muscle inflamed, and sciatic nerve pain shot down his leg, sending him frequently to a physical therapist.
“I know I can gut a half marathon, but man, that next 13 miles, I don’t know about it,” Cacciola said. “But, you know, [the physical therapist] goes, ‘No, don’t give up yet.’ I was questioning myself.”
On New Year’s Eve, Cacciola was back at the PT’s office. By Jan. 4, he was running again — 20 miles in the rain.
“Under adverse conditions, I surprised myself, so I’m going to go for it,” he said.
On Jan. 18, Cacciola, who finished first in his age group last year with a time of 5 hours, 50 minutes, will run his 25th consecutive Carlsbad Marathon — though with one important caveat.
“It’s going to be considerably slower,” he said. “I’m just hoping that they don’t pull me off the course.”
Coming off an injury, Cacciola is leaning on a mantra he picked up before his first Carlsbad Marathon: Race your pace. The words, oft-repeated in his head, have long set his tempo as he moves through the two-loop course past Buena Vista Lagoon and the streets of Carlsbad Village, with the Pacific Ocean stretching along beach and surf.
Turning at La Costa Avenue and again at Mountain View Road, he repeats, race your pace — marking all the miles he’s run over decades — before the final stretch at Breakwater Road, where the mantra guides him to the finish line.
The approach came from Alex Breckenridge, a fellow Villanova graduate and marathoner at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. At an alumni event in 2000, he shared advice that has stayed with Cacciola for more than a quarter century.
“I asked him, ‘Alex, I’m about to run my first marathon. What’s your best advice?’” Cacciola recalled. “He looked at me and said, ‘Race your pace.’ I said, ‘What does that mean?’ He said, figure out the time you want to finish, adjust your pace for that distance, and don’t go too fast or too slow — just race your pace.
“Newer runners often go out too fast and hit the 18-mile wall. That’s what I try to remember every time I run.”
Typically, Cacciola aims for a mile pace of 13 minutes, 10 seconds. His fastest finish came in the 2000s, at 5 hours, 33 minutes. Notably, two years ago, at age 75, he ran 5 hours, 41 minutes — a personal best in the previous 16 years.
“After my first marathon, I thought, ‘Well, this wasn’t so bad. I can do this again,’” Cacciola said. “Year after year, it became a personal goal — now I’m 60, 70, 75. It’s more challenging, but it’s still something I set for myself.”
Cacciola started running the Carlsbad Marathon with a group of eight he met at Fantasy Fitness in Oceanside. Over time, the group dwindled to four, and then, years ago, he became “the last man standing.”
“I keep telling myself I’d really like to do a full marathon at 80 years of age,” Cacciola said. “God willing, if I’m able, I’d really like to be able to do that. This is my personal goal.”
