In the Belcher household, running runs in the family. Over the past dozen years or so, the highways and byways of Old Deerfield have played host to what many of the Townies must have dubbed "On the Road with Dad and Lad."

"I was in my mid-30s and leading a rather sedentary life," recalls Dave Belcher. "I was coaching running at Bement School … but I wasn't practicing what I was preaching."

So, Belcher decided on a new game plan: Show his charges by example. And since that would require moving around, he took a quantum leap and began running around -all year 'round.

His sidekick for these treks was his 5-year-old son, Sam.

"I always looked forward to tagging along with my dad on my bike," said Sam, who discarded the bike at the ripe old age of 8 and began running in his father's shadow. A role reversal has taken place over the years, howev er. Today, it's Dad who's trying to stay within shadow's dis tance of his son, as Sam Belcher has shifted into overdrive and become one of New England's elite prep school dis tance runners.

"His success all comes from within," said Steve Anderson, the Deerfield Academy cross country coach of Belcher, who hasn't missed a stride going from a fresh man phenom to a super sophomore to a junior whatever.

Belcher culminated his rookie campaign by finishing 13th at the New England Prep School Cross Country Championships, while he wound up seventh last year.

As for this year's meet, which will take place at Northfield Mount Hermon School on Nov. 14, if everything falls into place, Belcher should be making his way to the medals podium following the race. All six runners who fin ished in front of him last year, have graduated. But, the defending champion decided to stick around one more year. Following his graduation from Avon Old Farms, he opted for a post-graduate year at Loomis Chaffee School.

"And Sam will have his hands full beating him," said Anderson. "He's not only an outstanding runner, but he's three years older than Sam, and that can make a lot of dif ference … he's much more experienced."

And just what is it that makes Belcher such an outstanding distance runner? It's a number of things, according to his mentor.

"Sam has the drive … the heart … the endurance … the talent," added Anderson. "But more importantly, he thor oughly loves running."

Yes folks, Belcher is a member of that gritty - yet unheralded - fraternity that loves a sport that proudly proclaims on its T-shirts that "Our sport is your sport's punishment." And quite frankly, he'd be lost without it. Belcher's philosophy behind such a grueling sport? "I enjoy doing something that I'm good at," he said. "I have been blessed with the ability to run and I just want to con tinue to improve on the things that I can do better."

And that must certainly be a scary thought for oppo nents, because as he reaches the stretch run of his third season, the Big Green junior has been nearly perfect from the starter's gun to the finish line.

Last year, Belcher won six of the seven regular-season races he entered and set course records at Deerfield, Worcester Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy while doing so.

This fall, he has posted a pair of first-place and second- place finishes, "but he was a bit under the weather during those second-place finishes," explained Anderson.

Nevertheless, his two blue-ribbon performances put him in opponents' record books. For the second straight year, he broke the mark at Worcester, and he has since added the Westminster School course mark to his stash.

Belcher's love for getting from Point A to Point B in the least amount of time isn't limited to cross country, howev er. He's a veteran long-distance runner on the Big Green track team during the spring, and like his cross country resume, he's been successful there, too. In the 1,500-meter event, he finished 11th as a freshman at the New England Prep School Track and Field Championships, then moved up to No. 7 as a sophomore.

If you haven't already realized that Sam Belcher was destined to be a long-distance runner, you would have if you had witnessed his debut at the age of 8 - when he completed a four-mile jog with his dad.

"We were vacationing at a camping area down on the Cape," recalled his proud pop. "There's a four-mile jogging trail that runs around the campground and, as I prepared to head out, Sam asked if he could run along with me."

"I'd spent three years riding alongside my dad on my bike," said Sam, "so I figured it was time to begin running with him."

"I said 'OK,'" said the elder Belcher, "but before we headed out, I mentioned to my wife that she might want to tag along in the car, so when Sam got tired, he could ride home."

Well, no rescue was necessary. Sam made it the entire four miles. The rest is history.

That fall, more handwriting appeared on the wall.

"I took some runners from Bement to a Junior Olympics meet in Nashua (N.H.)," said Dave Belcher. "And I brought Sam along so he could watch. But there was a 10-and-under division and he ended up competing.

"And although there were over 100 runners, and most of them were 9- and 10-year olds, Sam finished 19th, which qualified him for the regional meet."

Belcher's performance that day put him at the starting line of a long and successful career in the Junior Olympics program. He qualified for the Nationals on three occasions since 2004.

Oddly enough, it wasn't the Junior Olympic experience that convinced Belcher his wheels were as good as any one's. The realization came much closer to home and in a far less competitive structure.

"It was the Old Pumpkin Race in Turners Falls … it was the first race I ever entered," remembered the younger Belcher. And although he placed seventh out probably 50 runners that day, it wasn't so much where he finished that excited him, but how he finished.

"I can still remember running past these two girls near the end of the race … they must have been high school age or at least middle school age," said Belcher, who, don't for get, was a third-grader at the time. "And as I pulled ahead of them, I heard one of them say, 'Hey, that little kid's going to beat us,' and it made me feel pretty good."

Today, Belcher stands in at 5-11 and 135 pounds and like his father said, "He's got a light frame, but a big engine."

Bob York is a Recorder wire editor. His e-mail address is byork@recorder.com.