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| Wow...50 years and I still look pretty damn good in this outfit. Be Jealous. (You're totally not.) |
Heck of a picture to use at the top of this blog post, huh? I have no shame and I could not help myself. Anyhow, I keep looking back at the last 12 years, and I'm still floored by how far I've come in this running adventure. It all started with The Great Race in 2011, and even more so with the Run Around The Square in 2012. It only took off from there. My first Half Marathon was at the age of 40 in 2013. I remember finishing that one, and thinking on more than one occasion, "this is crazy. People run twice this distance? NO WAY." And now I've not only run twice that distance, but I've gone even further. Heck I didn't even know further distance races existed until after I ran my first marathon.
During that first marathon, I can remember saying to myself I was one and done, and that I'd never do this again. And now, I've pretty much said that for every distance I've gone. So here I am, ready to hit the pavement this coming Sunday for my 12th overall marathon. When I look back, I no longer see myself as crazy. I just see a guy who decided to keep running and then challenge himself to see what else he may be capable of doing. I also wanted to see what kind of impact and what kind of difference he may be able to make.
It was my second half marathon that I started to run for the Mario Lemieux Foundation, and this year marks the 10th year I've done so. We've reached (and exceeded) our goal each of those 10 years. Of course we could not have done that without all of your help. I can never thank you all enough for that. I do thank everyone, but it never feels like it's enough. It was my first marathon as well that I wanted to make it mean more than just me running 26.2 miles. I chose to dedicate each of those miles to someone. And also at some point, I chose to keep those dedications relegated to my Pittsburgh Marathons. There is just something about this city that really makes me smile. It's special. It's the greatest city on the planet. (Fight me. You'll lose.) I know I love Pittsburgh, but I also know that so do all of you. So in keeping my #26miles26dedications tradition for the Pittsburgh Marathon......
Mile 1: Mrs. Donna Koffler, Lou Majetic, and Cy Clark. I'm also adding Anna Marie Clark for this year. Anna was Cy Clark's mother. I thought they may want to run together with me.
Mile 2: Wilfrido Tolentino. The father of one of my friends Adrienne Tolentino Essey. Adrienne and I trained together when I was running my first marathon and we've even trained for a few after that. I wanted to dedicate this one to her recently passed father. RIP.
Mile 4: Arnold Agresti and Eric "Rico" Agresti
Mile 5: Doris Lorraine Addis Rhodes. Arnold And Eric (Mile 5) are the father and brother (respectively) of Holly Agresti-Rhodes. Doris is the mother of her husband Rich. Holly was one of our bartenders at McCoy's place back in the day, and Rich and a whole slew of us used to hang out there (and me DJ) so many, many Moons ago. I cannot imagine the pain that you two have gone through in this past year, and nothing I can say will make it any better. But, I still wanted to pay tribute. RIP
Mile 6: Ronald David Marple. Ronald was the father of Linda (Marple) Smith who had passed away just before last year's marathon. Linda is a long time contributor to my fundraising efforts so I wanted to honor her father here at Mile 6.
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| Cornelia Acquaro |
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| Marry Ng |
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| Harry Ng |
Mile 9: Lois Vogler. Lois was the wife of one of my favorite teachers from high school, Bernie Vogler. I'm very sorry for your loss Mr. Vogler. This mile is for Lois.
Mile 10: Jesse Shoaf. Jesse was the father of David. I'm keeping the rest of the information on this story private as I wish not to say too much (but all of it is good.) They'll let me know if I can add more. But I still wanted to dedicate a mile for Jesse.
Mile 11: Amy Brady. Amy was the mother of our close friends, Rick Donahue. Truly sorry for your loss Rick. RIP Amy.
Mile 12: Bonnie Kay Lancaster. Coach Suzanne's bonus mom and the best gift her dad gave her. Coach, I'll see you at mile 12, so we can run up the hill together in Bonnie's honor.
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| Bonnie Kay Lancaster |
Mile 14: Marianne Rose DeFazio. Marianne was one of Edyta's long time patients and had passed away just a short while ago. Edyta talked very fondly of her and this one (as all of them do actually) hit her heart hard. I wanted to honor her at this year's marathon as well. RIP Marianne.
Mile 15: Ryan Branagan. Ryan is the son of one of our dear friends, Maria. Gonna dedicate this mile to him as I know Maria will be there at her relay point when I go trotting by. This one is for Ryan, Maria.
Mile 16: Zosia. What can I say about this kid that her mom doesn't already? I can't be more proud of the woman she is growing up to be. Turning 16 this year, learning how to drive, one of the stars of Carlynton's presentation of Disney's "The Little Mermaid." I'm so proud of you kiddo. I know it may be cheesy to hear me saying it, but like your mom, I love you to the moon and back.
Mile 17: Kathleen Pastierik. Kathleen was the Aunt of Jennifer Plunkett, who married Aaron for some strange reason, and will always be 3 days older than me. I've known Jenn forever. This one is for your Aunt Kathy. And when we finish this mile, we'll pick up......
Mile 18: Sarah Plunkett. DJ Sarah P!! Sarah is the daughter of Jenn and Aaron Plunkett. Sarah graduates from Robert Morris University this weekend. Congrats Sarah! I know your parents are proud, but I am too. You are an incredible kid and have grown up way too much and way too fast!
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DJ Sarah P in the house on the 1s and 2s!!! |
Mile 19: Nick Giannantonio and Carol Heh. Nick was the coustin and Carol the Aunt of one of my best friend's, Bryan Benson's. May they both RIP.
Mile 20: John P Jursa Jr. John was the father of one of my DJ friends, Jan. RIP Mr. Jursa.
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| Jan and his family |
Mile 22: Sandy Trimble. Sandy was the mother of my brother in law Kelly. She had just recently passed. I'm truly sorry for your loss Kelly. This mile is for Sandy. And, when this mile is done, she can meet up with....
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| Kelly and His Mom |
Mile 23: Morgan Davis. My niece, and Kelly and my sister Jamie's daughter. She graduates from College Today! She is a proud University of South Florida (USF) Bull. Sandy is here to help you walk across the platform to your college degrees. I'm proud of you kiddo. You have done amazing in college and life is yours for the taking. Also, H2P.
Mile 24: Jess Sebass. Jess is the girlfriend of Jason Young. Jason of course is the brother to one of my dearest friends, Carie Young. Most that know Jess know her story. We've never met, but she's part of Carie's family, so I wanted to dedicate the same mile that I dedicated to Carie's and Jason's mother last year.
Mile 25: Alta Glozzer. Alta was the mother of one of my longtime friends, Joe "Yoshi" Glozzer. She had sadly passed away just prior to last year's marathon and at that time I had already done my dedications. So, I'd like to dedicate this mile to Mrs. G. RIP.
Mile 26: Bernie Augier. This one, the one to the finish, will always be your mile Bern. We miss you buddy.
The dedications part of my marathon running is always one of the hardest things for me to type up. There are always so many I wish to honor, and I do try my best to get as many dedications out as I possibly can. But, I do only have 26 miles so the list is always way shorter than I'd like it to be. I'm just glad that I'm still able to continue this Pittsburgh Marathon tradition. And with that, we'll see you on Sunday Pittsburgh. Until then, keep on running.
Sinceriously,
Chuck Hull
The Running Jedi (And also Bigfoot.)
PS: Special shouts to Molly Thomas, Chris and Lara Ervin, Tara McElfresh, and DVE's Bill Crawford who are tackling their first marathon this year! Good luck to all of you, as you are all going to crush it! See ya at the finish line.
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| Me, Chris, Edyta, and Lara...some winter training. |
Lastly, if you'd still like to make a donation to the Mario Lemieux Foundation, you can do so by clicking the link below. And thank you.
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