Shortly after Mike Benjamin moved to New York City in 2001, he was violently attacked while waiting patiently for the train one night. Out of nowhere a man draped in black with a long scowling face and hollow eyes raced up and slid his machete right into Benjamin's chest. The bystanders all applauded after Benjamin let out his girlish wail and the crew surreptitiously filming the incident thanked him for being such a good sport.

In many ways, that gives an apt snapshot of Benjamin, the FRNY president for 2007. Those who know him well might easily picture his boyish face brightening red as he stood there in the aftermath, perhaps giggling to himself in embarrassment. Born and bred in Rolling Prairie, Indiana (population 500), Benjamin brings a certain aw-shucksism to the FRNY presidency. Coming off the go-go Kelsey Louie years (or should we say go-go boy dancing?), Benjamin seeks to re-establish a placidity and sane efficiency to the post. In fact, he hopes only to be remembered after his term as “a nice guy who tried his best.” Humbleness aside, he'll naturally be remembered for much more than that. Benjamin combines a no-nonsense Midwestern sensibility with the fun-loving ease of a gay New Yorker in his general approach to life, his outlook on the presidency, and in his own running.

Growing up in rural Indiana farm country about 90 miles outside Chicago—a place his father, a truck driver, visited daily for work but may as well have been an ocean or continent away as far as the family was concerned—Benjamin had few friends to play with and formed close ties and friendships with his three sisters. His particular admiration for his older sister Lori's track prowess led Benjamin to first test out his own running ability.

Benjamin quickly gained a lot more than speed from his efforts. “I was quite shy,” he says, “and through running I found an outlet to excel and meet new friends.” In high school, Benjamin found his true niche on the track, where he broke the two-minute mark in the 800-meter and clocked approximately 52 seconds in the 400-meter dash. He even finished “a heartbreakingly, oh-so-close” second place in his high school conference championships.

Like many runners, Benjamin lapsed into a sabbatical of sorts after going to college at Indiana University. But there were other obstacles for Benjamin to tackle at the time. “The mid-to-late 80s were still a difficult time to be yourself as a gay person in Indiana,” says Benjamin. “I was very closeted and did not come out voluntarily, but was publicly outed in a humiliating manner by old high school friends.” In college and living off campus at the time, Benjamin came back to his house one day to discover that pages from a muscle magazine he had hidden in his room were papered all over the walls.

The difficult period in Benjamin's life continued as he struggled through a several-year-long relationship with an abusive alcoholic who ended up stalking and threatening to kill Benjamin after he broke up with him. Never one to play the victim, Benjamin laughs off this period of his life as “very Lifetime television.” Fair enough, particularly given that like any good survivor story, Benjamin's ends up with his breaking free and escaping to sunny Fort Lauderdale to start a new life.

Benjamin left Indiana with no money, no job prospects and no place to live once he got to Florida. “It was a scary time,” he admits. “I slept on the sofa of a friend for a couple of months…I got a job waiting tables, then working for the State, and then gradually in my chosen field of health care.” Today, Benjamin works as a consultant auditing hospitals.

But what about the running? A hater of the humidity and heat, Benjamin found it difficult to immerse himself in running while in the Sunshine State. He did a casual 5-miler or 10-K here and there, and even checked out the local Front Runner club once or twice but nothing really took.

It was not until he heard the siren call of the big city (don't they always?) in 2001 that the desire to really get back into racing shape stirred again within Benjamin. After accidentally intersecting the back-of-the-pack in the 2001 New York City marathon, Benjamin had one of those “If they can do it, I can do it” moments. He did a little research on the Front Runner chapter in New York, and, discovering that it was slightly more active and in-shape than its Floridian counterpart, Benjamin decided he needed to be able to complete a loop of Central Park before debuting at Rutgers. After a warm welcoming from Dan Armstrong and Paul Racine on his first Wednesday with the club, Benjamin slowly became a fixture at Front Runners.

The running muscles dormant within him were soon reawakened through his training, and Benjamin smashed his marathon goal time of four hours, premiering at the distance with a jaw- dropping 3:12 in 2002. (It's a sore point for our club president that this is, indeed, still his marathon PR.) With running once again part of his life, Benjamin became integral to the club, with the club offering him the invaluable social outlet he needed at the time. Benjamin grew more visible—to himself and to others—through his participation in the club.

Always one to skirt attention, Benjamin would never toot his own racing horn, but he has completed 10 marathons since that first one back in the fall of 2002. He has finished Boston three times and qualified even more times than that. Still looking to break 3:10 at this distance, Benjamin is currently gearing up for the Virginia Beach marathon on March 18th and is also holding this year's New York City marathon in his back pocket in case Virginia doesn't work out.

And all this while also trying to keep a few hundred gay and lesbian runners happy. Surprisingly serene about the impossibility of his chosen mission, Benjamin states that the club is in good shape, and his main goal is to “keep the momentum going…and not to screw up!”

With the earnest diligence that he brings to the table, Benjamin will certainly make sure the club maintains its rising trajectory. But he offers the club something more intangible than all that. Like the marathon runners who unwittingly inspired him back in 2001, Benjamin embodies the heart, the spirit and the humanity that never actually voice, but always insist: We're all in this together.

 

Random Data

He knew he was gay when — he lined his room with posters of Andy Gibb and Sean Cassidy as an eight-year-old. “I guess I liked big hair,” he says.

And the hunks of today? — Patrick Dempsey and Dermot Mulroney

Latest CD purchased — The Dreamgirls Soundtrack

If he had a free round-trip ticket anywhere? — “Always wanted to go to Australia. But anyone can go there, so maybe something like the Great Pyramids or the Greek Isles.”

Future Racing Goals — To complete the marathon major series (New York, London, Berlin, Chicago and Boston)…”Three down and just two to go.” He just needs the European venues…now if only the London lottery would cooperate.