Somerville Road Runner Larissa Park is featured today as part of our LVL Profile series, which aims to put the spotlight on runners in our community. This profile originally appeared in the Nov/Dec 2013 issue, #17.
Name: Larissa Bifano Park
Age: 33
Height & Weight: 5’5” & 110 lbs
Residence: Somerville, MA
Day Job: Patent Attorney at WilmerHale LLP
High School: Mt. Lebanon High School, Pittsburgh, PA 1998
College: Cornell University, 2002
Club: Somerville Road Runners
Average Miles per Week: 70
Notable PR’s
Mile (road & track)- 4:54
5K – 16:39 & 5K (downhill @ Hollis)- 15:51
5 mile – 27:34
10K track – 34:56 & road – 35:35
Half – 1:18
Marathon – 2:52
Favorites
Races:
Tufts 10K
An Ras Mor 5K
Somerville Homeless Coalition 5K
Mill Cities Relay
Workouts:
Any workout on the track
Long runs with pace portions
Places to Run:
Charles River
Mystic Lakes
Fresh Pond
Running Shoe: Saucony Cortana, Kinvara or Verrata for training; Saucony Type A5 or Adidas Adizero Takumi Sen for racing.
Workout Songs: I don’t listen to music when I run. But, when I have to do runs of two hours or more alone, I will listen to This American Life episodes!
Book: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Hobbies: Horseback riding and hiking
Running Intangibles
Training Philosophy: Follow my coach’s (Fernando Braz) workouts as best I can!
Prerace Ritual: Warm up for 20-30 minutes, some strides, nothing crazy.
Goal: Break 16 minutes for a 5K.
Proudest Moment: My proudest moment was breaking three hours at the Philly Marathon in 2011. I had been trying (unsuccessfully) since 2007. I had a patent trial in southern California starting in late September and the race was in November. Training with that schedule was difficult and I didn’t actually commit to running the race until about 6 weeks before. But, something seemed to click and I had a fabulous race, crushing the three hour mark by 8 minutes!
Best Distance Runner of All Time: Steve Prefontaine
Local Running Role Model: The coach of Somerville Road Runners, Joe O’Leary. I don’t know anyone who loves all aspects of running more than Joe. He inspires.
If you would like to read more from the Nov/Dec 2013 issue, click here.
