Top Gun

Today, I had arranged to run with Bill, Alan, Megan and Scott, Megan trained with me last year before she ran Boston. Scott is trying to qualify for Boston this year with a 3:30 in Champaign in April. Alan is a decent triathlete trying to improve his distance running, so he is shadowing my training, and then will see if it will work to train for a fall marathon. Bill is the Zen master, having run Boston in 3;30, with a sub-3:10 qualifying time. He has been in more of a middle-distance mode recently, and his hamstring is hurting. It turns out that Megan got sick, and she backed out at the last minute. Scott invited a group from the MultisportMadness triathlon club, so Gil Ken, Tom and pat came out.
We are starting from the Old Plank Road Trail in Frankfort. It is a paved, totally straight trail that parallels US Route 30 1 mile south from Joliet to close to the Indiana State line. This is the meeting spot for Saturday Long runs for my running club (Park Forest Running and Pancake club). I like to join them, but in the winter, it is too tempting to just start and finish at my house, so I can immediately get inside, and stretch and/or get out of my wet/sweaty clothes. Today it is a little milder, and more importantly, the snow and ice has melted from the streets and running path. I put out Gatorade and water and cups about 3 miles west of here, so we should be able to run past there a couple times.
I was thrown a curve early this morning, when I happened to check my email, and one of the PFRPC members told me there was a guy from the Navy who was in town, and wanted to run at my pace. I was given his phone number, but no first name. This was starting to get complicated. Scott wants to run 15 miles at a 9 minute pace, I want to run 13 at 8:45, and this guy could run 15 at 7:30-8 mins per mile. AND, my group is starting at 7:30, but this guy won’t get there until 8 am. I call him, to let him know we will double back to meet him. The cell phone connection is shaky, but I thought I heard him say his name was “Ben”.
Alan and Megan back out, so, I meet Bill and Scott and the Tri-club guys and we head out at 7:30. I want to go 3.5, but the group is determined to make it an even two miles and turn around. Even with the fast 8:15-8:30 pace we are running, it will be after 8 am when we get back to the parking lot to meet “Ben”. I try calling his cell phone, but a woman answers, and has no idea who “Ben” is. So I hope he will start out with the Park Forest Group to meet us. When we turn around, we split into 2 groups, because this pace is too fast for Scott’s long run pace. We see 10-15 Park Forest runners, and they tell me that the Navy guy – “Pat”, is waiting back at the parking lot. Oh. Pat.
So, we head out again, and Bill joins Pat and I and soon we are running a sub-8 minute pace. I know Bill will only run 6-10, so he’ll manage this pace, and I plan to back Pat down for the rest. We start to get acquainted – I had the mistaken impression that he was an old “Navy buddy” of one of the club members. But he is much younger (about 10 years younger than me), and is an active duty career military guy. His wife’s family lives in the area, and he had encountered some of our group out running, and struck up a conversation. He had a 15 mile run planned, and would welcome the company. Our club has an especially soft spot for the military, because one of our members, Danyelle, was deployed in Afghanistan for the last 18 months. After a couple of miles, Bill doubles back, and heads back to the parking lot.
I found out that Pat is a few years away from retirement. He was trained as surgical tech, and now he recruits medical personnel, like doctors and nurses. He is considering going to school for his nursing degree when he retires from the military. He started running in 2001, and he qualified for Boston with a 2:55 in the Marine Corps marathon. But, in Boston he had stomach problems, and ONLY finished in 3:25. He did some triathlons, and some ultramarathons, but recently had gotten away from marathons. The return of the Pittsburgh marathon had attracted him, so he he was starting to train for it. I decided to detour from our straight/flat trail to give him some of the modest hills we have here.
As we ran, we talked about his career plans, I told him about my wife’s prospects to be a Pediatric Hospitalist, using her Nurse Practitioner training. I tell him that he would be perfect for a Physicians’ Assistant. He told me about his travels in the military, and doing IVs in a Humvee, and seeing midnight mass in the Vatican, and visiting concentration camps in Germany, then treating an elderly cancer patient, with a concentration camp tattoo on her arm. I let him know that pretty much validates his mission, and the US military right now. Then I just bear down and try to keep up. I tell Pat about my nephew who is in the Navy on asubmarine right now, and it has seemed to give structure, and purpose to his life. I hope Ryan turns put like this guy in 10 years. I finish my 13 miles at the parking lot, and he carries on run 4 more by himself. We may never meet again, but I hope I am carrying some of his spirit with me in Boston.