WUTR Employees (Past & Present) Prepare for Boilermaker 2022 Events

By Shelby Pay

UTICA, N.Y. (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) – If you were lined up along the course, you may have seen a few familiar faces running by — further proving that you do not have to be a professional athlete to run the Boilermaker.

Every year, people come from all over the world to run either the 15k or 5k courses on Boilermaker Sunday. but every runner has a story, and their reasons for participating are different.

For Dan Maslowski, it’s about the sense of accomplishment.

“

It just feels so invigorating to go through the whole race and be like, ‘wow, this is something that I can accomplish, doing a 15k.’”

He continued, “I’ve never done one before, except for October, and after that, I just got hooked.”

Does that guy look familiar? That’s right! It’s our very own “Dan the Weatherman” from Eyewitness News!

After running the Boilermaker back in October, Dan wanted to give it another shot by running in this year’s race, especially now that it’s back to its original date.

“I’ve been practicing a lot, and you know one thing about the Boilermaker is, I think everyone can do it,” said Maslowski. “I’m your ‘every day Joe,’ I’m not a runner – I used to play tennis and soccer, though those days are way behind me, so really all I did was get a membership at the gym.”

He explained, “I’ve been running every couple of weeks, and every single time I run I try to do a little bit more – so I push myself to do an extra half a mile every time I run on the treadmill and just keep on going up and up and up until I hit that 9.3-mile mark.”

And he even shared some of his pre-race tips with me.

“So, to be honest,” said Maslowski, “The best thing that I would recommend, and it’s something that I do, is always getting rest before the race.”

He continued, “There is a time to practice, there is a time to run, and there is a time to let your body recharge and get all that energy before the big race. I normally don’t like to eat anything right before the race – I’ll have something small like a banana, and the day before I just take that day to rest.”

And you may have recognized another friendly face during today’s events. Previously of the Eyewitness News family, and current Capitol Correspondent, Jamie DeLine, ran today’s 5k event with her sister by her side.

“I covered the event for two years and I was like, this is so cool, I’d like to participate in it at some point, so I’m really happy to be here, and I’m excited to check this off my bucket list,” said DeLine.

“And it’s amazing to be back in Utica – the city has changed so much since the last time I was here, so it’s amazing.”

And then I caught up with Jamie at the post-race party to see how it went…

“It went really well!” she said, “I did better than I expected that I would.”

She continued, “Towards like the last mile I was starting to get a little tired but I’m like, I didn’t come this far, only to get this far. So, I pushed myself through it, and luckily my sister was running by my side the entire time.”

“She was like, ‘We got this!’ and was I like, ‘We do!’ and we were able to get all the way down and it was great. It was a big accomplishment for me.”