VP by Day, VIP by Weekend

Peter O'Neill is the vice president of sales operations at Charles Schwab. Most days he goes to work wearing his nice, pressed suit, but today he's more excited about a highlighter-yellow cap he has the honor of wearing.

O'Neill is one of three Lutherville-Timonium residents who will be honored this weekend at the Maryland Running Festival. He picked up the cap earlier in the afternoon from the festival, along with a custom Under Armour running jacket with an inscribed "10" on the sleeve.

"I've been running all my life. I played sports growing up and I always admired long-distance runners. Never thought I could do a marathon but when I was living in San Francisco I decided I was finally going to do one," he said.

That was 20 years ago.

After taking a break from the sport he earned his MBA from then-Loyola College in Baltimore. He said the "little bit of weight" he put on during that time pushed him to get back into it.

"Coming out of that I knew I had to get back in shape. My wife saw the advertisement for the 2001 marathon and my wife gently suggested that I do it," he said.

Today, at 50, O'Neill still remains competitive, but puts extra emphasis on safety when running.

"It's about getting smarter," he said. In the weeks leading up to the marathon he said he has been running three times a week—two short courses and one long run.

Saturday's race will be his 16th marathon.

"I hadn't really thought about it until I got up to about the sixth one, I thought that would be kind of cool to keep going," he said. "This one I like because it's a hometown thing. I started to get more excited by the idea of getting 10 under my belt. This time around I'm 50 and it's getting tougher and tougher but we'll see how far we can go."

He estimates he'll finish in just under four hours.

For runners interested in improving their speed while keeping safe, you can click on the Baltimore Marathon training tips page here.