---- A Note from the Publisher ----
The New York Marathon is an amazing event that attracts over 300 million viewers in 125 countries around the world as well as the more than 2 million spectators who line streets and bridges to cheer on runners of all ages. The oldest participant this year was 88 years old!
We are delighted this month to feature articles by Postcard readers. Jerry Petrasek lives in LA. We began corresponding after he emailed to tell me "I Love Postcards from New York." When I discovered he actually ran in the New York Marathon, I asked him to write about his experience. He said he had never written anything before. I said;"Just write what you have described to me." Here's his story in three parts.
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Dear Postcards from New York Reader,
My marathon running began as pure compulsion. The year was 1985; I had just entered therapy as a three pack a day smoker. The notion of a chemical imbalance in the brain was unknown. I lived life with passion, which I still do. I love people who live each day as though there might not be another. My therapist made me feel smoking was wrong; he simply said "there will no smoking during my sessions."
My life started to change. I wanted to be a better Jerry. I joined a ski fitness class at the Hollywood Y, I didn't ski at the time but that was my only choice, aerobics had not been discovered. My smoking quickly began to decline. How could I improve my life if I continued to smoke; suddenly smoking and running did not make sense.
Little by little running took over my life, I admit in part because I am compulsive. I went from being a three pack a day smoker to a gym rat. Some of the people in the ski fitness were avid runners. Each Sunday morning they would run three miles up a steep hill in Griffith Park and back down. I had been someone who stayed up at night on weekends until 2am and slept most of the day. Now I was in bed by 10pm on Saturday night and out of bed at 6am the next morning to run.
I now entered my next stage. I had been a compulsive movie watcher, living life through movies. It soon became clear I would have to choose between movies or devoting most of my free time to running. I chose running. The next step was doing 10ks.
Los Angeles was to have their first marathon in March of 1986. I knew that I would have to run the marathon or I would feel I had let myself down. Training for marathons normally start three to six months before the event. It was January. Despite the short time I would have to train, I decided to run the marathon. I believed I could do it; I was now an avid runner.
I found training brochures at Cedars Sinai Hospital and started training and made minor changes to my diet. Three months later, I ran the marathon, finished in five hours and twenty minutes. I ran every step. I did not walk one step.
The following month I heard about the New York Marathon. This was "the big one" where runners are chosen by lottery. I decided to submit an entry. A letter from the New York Runners Club arrived in May. Anxious and terrified, I decided to open such an important letter I should be sitting with a cup of coffee near by. I did the ritual and I opened the letter. To my surprise and delight, I was going to New York!
New York was bigger than life. It was a mythical city that I had only dreamed about, having spent my life to the age of eighteen in a town of five hundred farmers in Southern Oregon where I didn't belong. New York was the myth that I had seen over and over again in the movies which had been my escape.
I followed the training guide and ran each day. Every day I would increase the distance I ran. It soon became apparent I would not be able to run the correct distant during the day due to work so I rearranged my schedule so I could run at night. Soon I was running one hour every evening in areas I would not have gone into during the day. I was possessed.
Finally, I had my last day of training in Los Angeles by running a half marathon.
To be continued...
Jerry Petrasek
For Postcards from New York
Photo by Joseph Knight
© Copyright 2007 The Cable Group
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