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One man's first marathon
Before contracting HIV, John ran his first marathon;
and he has kept running
By
John Patrick Rowe
Outsports.com
 I
would consider myself an ordinary guy, though I wasn’t that
big on sports in high school. I came from a small town and
unless you were a farmer’s boy you really didn’t have the
size or strength for the high school teams.
That
changed in 2002. I was working at a well-known record label,
and the office mail team was passing out flyers for The
National AIDS Marathon Training Program; training for a
marathon in Hawaii that December. I was cocky at the time
and sent an email out to everyone in the office saying I
would do it “for the team” if I received at least one
thousand dollars in donations by the day’s end. By the time
I left later that evening, I had almost two thousand already
committed. I was going to do a marathon, and I had never run
even a mile before, much less 26.2 miles.
That
Saturday I met my running coach and other runners on my
soon-to-be training team in Santa Monica. For first-time
runners, I can’t recommend a supportive, knowledgeable
training team highly enough. The first weekend I was timed
on a 3-mile run, the thought of which was very scary. I’d
never run that far. But when I was running on the beach and
saw the other runners, surrounded by the beautiful scenery,
I didn’t think about the mileage; I just ran. When I
finished the run, they took my time, divided it by three,
added a minute, and settled me into a training group that
matched my speed. For the next six months, they would be my
lifeline to my impending marathon. I started at three miles
and added a mile each week until, to my surprise, I was
running eight and 10 miles at a time.
Like most
runners, I found that I didn’t warm up or start to feel like
running until I hit five miles. Once I hit that mile-marker,
my body warmed up, the endorphins kicked in, and I began to
really enjoy running. I ran along the beach and up the roads
to Westwood. It was wonderful experience training in Santa
Monica.
December
came before I knew it. I had already done a practice
marathon in November and had already reached marathon
distance in my training. I also had the pleasure of running
a few 5k and 10k runs amidst the training. I was now off to
Hawaii. This was to be a big-time event for the locals; it
was the 30th anniversary of the marathon in
Waikiki, and running groups and tourists were everywhere.
At 5 a.m.,
in the pitch dark, over 30,000 people gathered at the
starting line. We enjoyed about 15 minutes of fireworks
before the run began. The more experienced athletes and
runners were in the front line, the training groups toward
the end. It was exhilarating running with that many people.
I was so close to everyone that it felt the crowd was a wave
being pushed across the starting line.
It took
about 15 minutes after crossing the starting line before I
actually found my pace. It was still dark out and I passed
through neighborhoods covered in Christmas decorations.
Waikiki has one major hill to encounter, Diamond Head. I
reached it at mile eight; I’d be returning to it on the
course 20 miles later.
After
running for three hours, the heat set in as the sun rose. I
took advantage of the wet towels and water that were given
out along the course. Thankfully, Hawaii’s winter provides
some rain showers, and that day we were not disappointed.
When I hit
mile 23 and hit the big hill for the second and final time.
The size of the hill no longer mattered because I knew I was
almost home. On the hill I realized I had injured my foot,
but that was not going to stop me. I just used the pain as
energy and joyfully crossed the finish line with two of my
training partners.
That
marathon to me was not about my race time, which was about
5:30; it was about finishing the race and raising over
$5,000 for a cause I cared about. I was amazed to see that
one of our older and much out of shape runners cross the
line later that day. It may have taken her over 10 hours,
but she completed it, contributing the donations she had
raised to the cause.
I hobbled
around the island for the next few days in pain. I saw a
doctor when I got back home and I had a small fracture on my
left foot. I didn’t care. I just had it wrapped and walked
on crutches for a few weeks. I had thought that would be my
first and last marathon. But the intoxicating feeling of
tackling 26.2 miles and surviving with a fracture in my foot
was too alluring. It wasn’t long until I was back training
for my next one.
________________________________
Rowe is
openly gay and presently 37 years old. In 2003 while
training for his second marathon he became violently ill and
found out that he was HIV-positive. He has completed three
marathons and continues to run despite his medical
condition. He is originally from New York and has lived in
Los Angeles for about 15 years. In August 2007 he is moving
to Hawaii where he may compete in the Waikiki Marathon in
December. You can contact him at
directme@yahoo.com
July 16,
2007 |
