Putting Miles in the Bank
11/5/2007 5:00:00 AM | Baseball
John Pawlowski knew the Chicago marathon was going to be a challenge. What he didn't know is that it would be a matter of survival.
“I saw more people go down in this race than all the races I've run,” says the head Cougar baseball coach, who already had six marathons under his belt when he ran the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, which received attention in the national news last month when it was cancelled mid-race due to hot, humid weather. “The heat will just zap the energy right out of you, and I really went into survival mode.”
And, with a reported 49 hospitalizations and 1 death during the course of the race, it's a good thing he did.
“By the time I finished, the police were making people stop running,” Pawlowski says. “They didn't have the medical personnel to handle it, and there wasn't enough water for everyone. It just wasn't safe, so they did what they had to do.”
And so did Pawlowski: He stayed focused, maintained a safe pace and finished the race in 3 hours and 57 minutes.
“It was bittersweet because I didn't post my best time, but it was an unbelievable experience,” he says. “It was by far the toughest race I've run, but it was such a great atmosphere, and the spectators were great. People came out of their houses with ice trays for the runners; one lady hooked up her garden hose and soaked down anyone who wanted it. There were so many people lined up along the streets ? cheering and yelling. I must have given high-fives to 50 kids. It was like a running parade.”
It's this experience, this excitement, that Pawlowski likes about marathons. But, even more than this, he simply loves running.
“I have a passion for it,” he says. “People ask me why I run, and I say, ?Because I can.' You have to have some way of relieving the stress of everyday life and everything you go through; this is how I relax at the end of a tough day.”
Besides, Pawlowski continues, “running affects every aspect of your life. The rewards are enormous; you just have to work for it. You have to put the miles in the bank.”
And Pawlowski has certainly done that ... in more ways than one.
Not only does he run at least an hour every day, but the 26.2 miles he ran in the Chicago marathon translated into almost $11,000, which went straight to the Cougar baseball program's bank. Through his fundraiser, called “Run Coach Run,” sponsors either pledged a dollar (or more) for every mile that Pawlowski completed in Chicago, or donated a flat amount to the cause.
“I figured I was running so much, I might as well do something for the program while I was at it,” he says.
With the original goal of raising $10,000, Run Coach Run was a success, and Pawlowski hopes it can be more and more successful every year that he runs a marathon. (He plans on running a different marathon every year.)
“It will just give me a little extra incentive to keep going,” says Pawlowski.
Whatever it takes. After all, you never know when it could be a matter of survival.
