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Wednesday, May 03, 2000 By Ray Fittipaldo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Tired of being bullied and snickered at in the hallways of West Allegheny High School, Mike "the Animal" Lutz decided to get even -- with his feet.
Lutz was not born with a runner's body. When he was a high school freshman, he was 5 feet 7 and weighed 210 pounds. Now a sophomore at Penn State Beaver, Lutz is 5-10, 135. But it was not an easy road to that healthy body.
Lutz began running only two years ago when he was a senior in high school.
"I couldn't run more than a half-mile when I started," he said. "I planned to run a lot earlier, but I was intimidated."
He ran the 3,200 meters on West Allegheny's track and field team, but he did not qualify for the WPIAL or PIAA championships. He did make a big impression on West Allegheny Coach Jim Hamilton, a former runner at the University of Pittsburgh.
Hamilton tabbed Lutz with the nickname "Animal."
"I really wasn't all that fast, but I was competitive," Lutz said. "I put everything I had into everything I did. I was just trying to get in shape."
Lutz ran his first marathon last year in the UPMC Health System/City of Pittsburgh Marathon. He finished the course in 3:28.30. He's going to run again Sunday.
Lutz does it because he is exorcising demons from his past.
"Kids in school are hard on you," he said. "Kids can be tough when you're younger. I run marathons because I don't think people think I can do it. It's another challenge for me. When I was young, I was lazy and not active. Today, people don't recognize me. I gained a lot of self-confidence from running. I'm a lot more at ease around people. It changed the way I look. And running relieves a lot of stress for me. It's pretty therapeutic."
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