John Young
July 24, 1979 was a day that changed my life forever!
I was 46 years old, smoking cigars and enjoying the three-martini lunch. Exercise was something others did. I was slightly overweight, but not worried about it. My professional life was spent in the corporate world creating new brand identities for companies around the world. The workweek involved leaving the house at 6:30 in the morning and often returning home around 8:00, or later, that evening. Frequent travel, nationally and overseas, was also part of the routine. Never gave my health a second thought as I was going to live forever.
On July 24, 1979, that all changed.
Each year, my family, including my parents, gathered in Florida to spend two weeks together on the Gulf of Mexico. That July, my father arrived in terrible physical condition. A life long smoker, he was entering the final years of losing a battle with emphysema. The morning after their arrival, he was taken to the hospital in critical condition where he would remain for the next three weeks. As he was being carried to the ambulance, I looked down at him and suddenly saw a vision of myself in years to come. At that point, I swore to change the way I was living my life.
The next morning, I ran about a half mile on the beach and thought I would die right there. However, I stayed with it and each morning that half mile run started my day. By the end of those three weeks, I was up to running a mile and beginning to feel a difference in my body. But the real test was just ahead.
Returning home to Connecticut, I wondered if I could maintain what I had started and accomplished in Florida. Now I was faced with colder New England temperatures and running in the dark on a road with traffic as opposed to a beautiful beach.
It wasn't an easy transition. By the end of the year, I was up to three-four miles, but getting bored and losing interest. A friend, and client, in Toronto suggested I needed a challenge and entered me in the National Capital Marathon held in Ottawa Quebec each May. That was only five months away and I had only been running the past four months. The word that came to mind was "impossible". But she was more than a friend and client. She was a top marathoner who would win the Toronto Marathon with Bill Rogers and later the New Orleans marathon. She laid out a weekly training schedule, starting in January, and would check with me each Monday to see how it went.
Following her guidance, I slowly built up the miles each week until I was running 20 milers a few weeks before the marathon. I became more disciplined with my time and adjusted the daily schedule to make sure I got my run in each day, often in the dark through rain, sleet and snow.
During this time, as I became more fit, I also noticed a change in my body and how I was living my life. I lost weight, had considerably more energy, and my desire for other "things" had changed. No more cigars, no more martini's, no more junk food, and I didn't miss them!
The big day, May 15, 1980, arrived and I completed the marathon in 4 hours and 17 minutes. Five months later, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington in 4 hours flat. I've been hooked on running ever since. Over the past 38 years, I've completed other marathons, half-marathons, 15K's, 10K's, 5K's and even tried a 50K ultra about 6 years ago.
Besides health, running has enriched my life with wonderful memories. I've enjoyed runs along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon as the sun was rising, an early morning run through mist on a Buddhist trail in the mountains of Japan, pushing through a driving snowstorm along farm roads in Sweden, and running in the streets of Paris early on a rainy morning before the city awoke. Along with these memories are the many people I've had the pleasure of meeting that I would not have met otherwise.
My father-in-law once asked me, "Why are you running so much all the time? Do you think it will allow you to live forever?" I replied no, but it will help me maintain a level of wellness until the time comes. So far, with a few bumps along the way, that's been the case.
I'm 83 now and not running at the same intensity, but still running. It's more like run, walk, jog and repeat. However, this past April, I completed a 10K trail race with granddaughters and other family members.
Without that change in direction on July 24, 1979, I probably would not be here to write this today."
- John Young
I was 46 years old, smoking cigars and enjoying the three-martini lunch. Exercise was something others did. I was slightly overweight, but not worried about it. My professional life was spent in the corporate world creating new brand identities for companies around the world. The workweek involved leaving the house at 6:30 in the morning and often returning home around 8:00, or later, that evening. Frequent travel, nationally and overseas, was also part of the routine. Never gave my health a second thought as I was going to live forever.
On July 24, 1979, that all changed.
Each year, my family, including my parents, gathered in Florida to spend two weeks together on the Gulf of Mexico. That July, my father arrived in terrible physical condition. A life long smoker, he was entering the final years of losing a battle with emphysema. The morning after their arrival, he was taken to the hospital in critical condition where he would remain for the next three weeks. As he was being carried to the ambulance, I looked down at him and suddenly saw a vision of myself in years to come. At that point, I swore to change the way I was living my life.
The next morning, I ran about a half mile on the beach and thought I would die right there. However, I stayed with it and each morning that half mile run started my day. By the end of those three weeks, I was up to running a mile and beginning to feel a difference in my body. But the real test was just ahead.
Returning home to Connecticut, I wondered if I could maintain what I had started and accomplished in Florida. Now I was faced with colder New England temperatures and running in the dark on a road with traffic as opposed to a beautiful beach.
It wasn't an easy transition. By the end of the year, I was up to three-four miles, but getting bored and losing interest. A friend, and client, in Toronto suggested I needed a challenge and entered me in the National Capital Marathon held in Ottawa Quebec each May. That was only five months away and I had only been running the past four months. The word that came to mind was "impossible". But she was more than a friend and client. She was a top marathoner who would win the Toronto Marathon with Bill Rogers and later the New Orleans marathon. She laid out a weekly training schedule, starting in January, and would check with me each Monday to see how it went.
Following her guidance, I slowly built up the miles each week until I was running 20 milers a few weeks before the marathon. I became more disciplined with my time and adjusted the daily schedule to make sure I got my run in each day, often in the dark through rain, sleet and snow.
During this time, as I became more fit, I also noticed a change in my body and how I was living my life. I lost weight, had considerably more energy, and my desire for other "things" had changed. No more cigars, no more martini's, no more junk food, and I didn't miss them!
The big day, May 15, 1980, arrived and I completed the marathon in 4 hours and 17 minutes. Five months later, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington in 4 hours flat. I've been hooked on running ever since. Over the past 38 years, I've completed other marathons, half-marathons, 15K's, 10K's, 5K's and even tried a 50K ultra about 6 years ago.
Besides health, running has enriched my life with wonderful memories. I've enjoyed runs along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon as the sun was rising, an early morning run through mist on a Buddhist trail in the mountains of Japan, pushing through a driving snowstorm along farm roads in Sweden, and running in the streets of Paris early on a rainy morning before the city awoke. Along with these memories are the many people I've had the pleasure of meeting that I would not have met otherwise.
My father-in-law once asked me, "Why are you running so much all the time? Do you think it will allow you to live forever?" I replied no, but it will help me maintain a level of wellness until the time comes. So far, with a few bumps along the way, that's been the case.
I'm 83 now and not running at the same intensity, but still running. It's more like run, walk, jog and repeat. However, this past April, I completed a 10K trail race with granddaughters and other family members.
Without that change in direction on July 24, 1979, I probably would not be here to write this today."
- John Young
John, running the 2015 Leatherman’s 10K trail race with granddaughter and daughter-in-law.
