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Marathon honors police captain

Date: 10/10/2014

WESTFIELD – A local police captain is being honored for his off-duty work where he dedicates his time to serving the community.

Police Capt. Mike McCabe was selected as part of the 10-member Aiello Inspiration Team, all chosen for their contributions and dedication to inspire others, in the NU Hartford Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K taking place on Oct. 11 in Hartford, Conn.
   
The team will be profiled in “New England Runner magazine” and the NU Hartford Marathon race publication and will receive personalized runner’s bibs.
   
When not serving to protect his community, McCabe strives to build it as a board member and volunteer for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield, for which he helped raise more than $100,000 for this year alone; as a volunteer coach for the Westfield High School cross-country team; as founder of a running club where he mentors local runners training for the Westfield Half Marathon, which he also helps direct; and he runs on a 12-person team that ran 200 continuous miles in two days to fundraiser for the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.
   
“He really fit the bill for everything that’s important to us,” Beth Schluger, executive director and CEO of the Hartford Marathon Foundation, said. “Our mission is to benefit our community, children, charity [organizations] and health. I’m really proud of the other nine recipients [too].”
   
Despite never having met McCabe, Schluger called him an “inspiration.” As the founder of the Marathon Foundation, the mission is “personal and important” to her. Last year, the race brought more than $14 million into the city.
   
“Seventeen thousand people cross the finish line and behind each one of them is a story. We’re just trying to highlight some of those stories,” Schluger said.
   
She stated that nearly 4,000 of the runners are children in grades four to eight who participate in their schools where they race towards their goal and then descend upon Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., to run the last mile together.
   
For McCabe, his inspiration was his former elementary school teacher, who he credits with putting him on the straight and narrow after she made a lasting impression.
   
“When I was younger, I had some wayward issues of my own. When I was a sophomore in high school, I had missed 48 days of school. A guidance counselor broke into my house and woke me up,” McCabe shared.
   
That counselor also served as a teacher at Westfield High School and she remembered things a bit differently. Janet Larese clarified the events. “Mike lived across the street from me. I asked permission to leave the [school] building because [I knew] this young man [wasn’t] sick. I knocked on the door and asked ‘Where is Michael?’ Michael got dressed real quickly.”

Why the persistence? “At the time, I knew that this young man had a lot to offer and he wasn’t in school. What’s been nice is to watch his progress through the years,” Larese commented.
   
She said the Marathon honor is “very well-deserved” because McCabe “does a lot of good, quiet things.”
   
McCabe, now 52, said, “It’s pretty cool. When I look at the other competitors and athletes [being honored] I don’t think I fit in. I’m looking forward to my bib. I’ve never had my name on one.”
   
As an officer, McCabe said he has the opportunity “to help kids you know that will have troubles,” especially those “kids that have done nothing to put them in the situation they’re in.”
   

He added, “I love seeing people excel.”
   
McCabe is still inspired by Larese's example. “She’s an avid runner and coach, a lifelong mentor,” he commented.
   
Erica Flynn, Westfield State University student, joined McCabe’s running club in February.
   
She said, “He has that fatherly effect on me. I feel so comfortable with him. Everything he says is with love and encouragement. There’s no way I could possibly thank him enough for all the encouraging talks.”
   
Flynn responded to McCabe’s idea that he didn’t belong with the other nine runner being honored by the NU Hartford Marathon. “Yes, you do,” she said.
   
“He always has a big smile. He’s genuinely a kind, kind person who has an array of happiness streaming from him,” Flynn stated.