Alex Wilson

​About Alex

 

I was born and raised in Binghamton, New York, the oldest of five kids. I knew I was different from other guys but there wasn't a word for this difference in my vocabulary. When I left for college at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971, I had a word for my difference but no deeds. I got my Masters in Education at Harvard, joined the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program in rural North Carolina where I started an Adult Literacy Council that is still running. I moved to DC in 1978, since when I’ve had three careers: VISTA & Peace Corps, Edison Electric Institute and now as Director of Academic Development at Woodrow Wilson High School in Tenleytown. I married my husband Alan Abramson on 10/10/10 after a 28-year courtship. We split Saturdays between Front Runners and our eleven year-old son Benjamin's soccer games. Life is good! 

 

 

 

 

​Questions



Our club is 30 years old and you’ve been with us all the way. What are your thoughts? Other than feeling old, I think about how the friendships I made when I was joined are the strongest ones I have today.

 

What big changes have you seen over the years? A significant point came in the late 1980s when the club decided to use members’ last names in our newsletter and membership cards. I was a big advocate of that because I felt there was an element of shame about not having it. Apart from that, the club has grown bigger, so we no longer leave from the SW corner of 23rd and P but from Shevchenko Park across the road. We’ve developed a very sophisticated and competitive race-circuit. Members now go to races all over the world and use it as a way to see the world.

 

What purpose does the club serve today given that gay people are more accepted and integrated into society? It is still an affirming social outlet to make friends as well as lovers. It’s also about health and fitness – an area where the gay community has been way ahead of the curve.

 

What was the gay scene like back in 1981? When I moved here in 1978, I noticed this bar called Mr. P’s on 22nd and P Street in big neon letters and was drawn in by some magical force. The bar scene was where everyone was drawn back then – there was also the Frat House across the road, then Rascals opened at Dupont which is where I met Alan. I found out about Front Runners when it was only a few months old after reading about it in the Blade.

 

You were club Coordinator 1996-1997. How did you approach the role? DC has a lot of intensity to it – it takes itself seriously. But our first coordinator, Chris Winters, just wanted the club to be fun and not have a whole lot of structure. I think I inculcated some of that as Coordinator. I saw my role as facilitating the energy of a lot of wonderful men and women. We did a lot of fundraising for AIDS and were very involved in the Gay Games.

 

What makes a good Coordinator? We need to always be a welcoming place for the newcomer. For the Saturday runners, we get so excited to see each other after a week apart that sometimes the newcomer can get left out. I’ve always made a point of looking for the one I don’t recognize. We have carried that tradition through – always giving a round of applause for new runners or visitors – that’s genuine. But that’s not just one person’s job – it’s up to everyone.

 

In your years with us, is there anyone you would single out for their outstanding contribution? Michael Mastrobattista. He was an extraordinarily good organizer who refused to ever take the spotlight and yet did more in a million ways to help: newsletters, signing us up for races, keeping archives, all the nitty-gritty stuff. He organized HIV-AIDS tributes. He then became one of our first runners to die of AIDS himself.

 

In your various careers, did you ever worry that your being gay would hurt you? No. I’ve got enough faith in people on the one hand and on the other, if it’s a place that rejects me because I’m gay, I don’t want to work there. The hardest ones to come out to are the people you are closest to: your family. There’s a funny story about how my brother raised it with me. I was home one time, he’d had a few beers and he turns to me and says ‘what’s up with you and girls?’ and that’s how I told him.

 

How did becoming a father impact your running routine? Common sense and the law says that you cannot put a kid in a baby jogger until they are six months old, but once Ben was ready, we took him running with us. Then at five, he started soccer so now we’re pretty much soccer dads.

 

Are you more of a competitive or social runner? I’ve had some good rivalries in my day. I’ve ran seven marathons and my personal record is 3.08. I qualified for Boston – I ran it with a fever so it took me five hours to finish. I’ve kept all my times in a big green garbage bag in my closet, along with every race bib I’ve had.

 

What’s your favorite Front Runner route to run? I love Glover Archibald Trail – out toward Fletcher’s Boat House, under the tunnel and all the way up to Massachusetts Avenue and back. I like the cross-country feel of it.

 

If you were a star, what diva-inspired stage name would you take? There’s an old game we would play that says your drag name should be your dog’s name plus the street you live on, so that would make me Freckles Vincent.

 

  

Interview by Brian Beary, Design by Marcel Acosta

September 2011