Someone You Should Know: Avid Jogger Robert Herskovitz
CHICAGO (CBS) – Robert Herskovitz has run 50 marathons, but his favorite run is the one he makes to work.
It's not unusual for him to get up early to run 20 miles or so to his downtown office.
He's someone you should know, CBS 2's Harry Porterfield reports.
Herskovits has found a way to avoid the aggravation and expense of commuting.
At least once a week, he runs from his Glencoe home to his Michigan Avenue office. Chopper 2 has even captured him running from above.
"Well, it's at least a 21-miler, depending on the route I take and depending on the climate," he says. "I leave my house just before 5, and I'm in the office by 8:30."
Herskovitz is the Region 5 deputy regional health administrator with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Running to work seems to make his day.
"It really became so wonderful and so enjoyable and not have to really train to run at a very hard race, and it's not a race. It's just run for fun," he says.
A veteran of the Gulf War, Herskovitz spent 22 years in the Navy before his retirement from Armed Forces radio and television. At age 44, he started running marathons and so far has run 50 -- all of this after suffering vertigo, or "drop" attacks, from Meniere's Disease.
"I had to give up swimming, I had to give up bicycling and things of that nature," he says.
So running is now his passion and his colleagues think it's great. After all, it works well with one of the missions of Health and Human Services.
"It's become our whole goal to help kids," he says.
