Wednesday, May 13, 2009
CAROLYN THORNTON
Journal Sports Writer
The road wasn't exactly smooth, but Jason Pisano added two more marathons to his resume over the past several weeks and is now five marathons away from reaching his ultimate goal of 51.
"I'd like to thank my entire crew and all of my supporters," said Pisano, communicating via e-mail by typing with his big toe. "It was a bad two marathons for me this year. I was a little depressed about my times, but I'm better now. I promise I'll be back better than ever."
The 37-year-old West Warwick native, who has cerebral palsy and propels himself backward in a wheelchair, completed marathon No. 45, last month at the Boston Marathon. He was determined to make his 15th straight appearance at the famed race despite injuring his right foot in mid-March.
"It wasn't fractured but I have a bursa on my little toe knuckle, a precursor to a fracture," Pisano said. "I felt good in Boston up until about 9 miles. I hit my foot and that really did me in, and my hip always hurts after 13 to 15miles in."
Accompanied by longtime college friend Randy Spellman and Spellman's co-worker "Q," Pisano - who holds a personal best of 6:32 at Boston - continued on despite the pain, crossing the finish line in 9 hours, 54 minutes.
Then it was on to marathon No. 46 - the Cox Sports Marathon, May 3 in Providence.
At the advice of his foot doctor, Pisano took about a week and a half off from training after Boston to allow his injured foot time to heal before embarking on that endurance run. And what an endurance run it turned out to be.
A wrong turn at some point along the route sent Pisano way off course. He did not quit, however, and finished in 14 hours, 40 minutes, finally crossing the finish line at about 9 o'clock that night.
"It was very long and very hard!" said Pisano, who was accompanied by aide Nathan Tompkins for the first 15 miles and aid Gus DeSimone the rest of the way. "Betwen my hip, foot and my age, I don't know. I wasn't in that much pain for this one. I took ten days off before to rest my foot. It was just that the course was so flat and the uphills didn't allow me to get my pace up at all. However, I was already off pace before we got lost so it was just a recipe for a long race. However, the thought of quitting never crossed my mind '26.2 or die' is my motto."
And regardless of the time it took him to finish, Pisano still moved two marathons closer to achieving his ultimate goal. He was originally aiming to do 50, but says he upped it to 51 after a conversation with former boxer Vinny Paz.
"One night we were out, and I told him I'd do him one better," Pisano said. "Because he had 50 wins in his boxing career, I told him I'd one-up him and get 51 completed marathons without ever quitting!"
Pisano next plans to tackle the Blessing of the Fleet 10-Miler in Narragansett this summer.
In the meantime, he is embarking upon two new ventures - motivational speaking and personal training. A two-time gold medalist (thrust kick and distance kick) at the 2005 Cerebral Palsy-International Sports and Recreation World Championships, he recently gave a presentation at Hope High School and hopes to do more. He says he has also begun offering personal training at Gold's Gym in Warwick.
In addition, the University of Connecticut graduate and freelance journalist has written a children's book about a young boy in a wheelchair learning to adapt to a regular school for the first time. He says he is currently trying to find a publisher.
Read more about Pisano and his exploits on his "Team Pisano" blog at http://teampisano.blogspot.com/ He can also be reached via e-mail at jprunr@aol.com
social bookmarking
Journal Sports Writer
The road wasn't exactly smooth, but Jason Pisano added two more marathons to his resume over the past several weeks and is now five marathons away from reaching his ultimate goal of 51.
"I'd like to thank my entire crew and all of my supporters," said Pisano, communicating via e-mail by typing with his big toe. "It was a bad two marathons for me this year. I was a little depressed about my times, but I'm better now. I promise I'll be back better than ever."
The 37-year-old West Warwick native, who has cerebral palsy and propels himself backward in a wheelchair, completed marathon No. 45, last month at the Boston Marathon. He was determined to make his 15th straight appearance at the famed race despite injuring his right foot in mid-March.
"It wasn't fractured but I have a bursa on my little toe knuckle, a precursor to a fracture," Pisano said. "I felt good in Boston up until about 9 miles. I hit my foot and that really did me in, and my hip always hurts after 13 to 15miles in."
Accompanied by longtime college friend Randy Spellman and Spellman's co-worker "Q," Pisano - who holds a personal best of 6:32 at Boston - continued on despite the pain, crossing the finish line in 9 hours, 54 minutes.
Then it was on to marathon No. 46 - the Cox Sports Marathon, May 3 in Providence.
At the advice of his foot doctor, Pisano took about a week and a half off from training after Boston to allow his injured foot time to heal before embarking on that endurance run. And what an endurance run it turned out to be.
A wrong turn at some point along the route sent Pisano way off course. He did not quit, however, and finished in 14 hours, 40 minutes, finally crossing the finish line at about 9 o'clock that night.
"It was very long and very hard!" said Pisano, who was accompanied by aide Nathan Tompkins for the first 15 miles and aid Gus DeSimone the rest of the way. "Betwen my hip, foot and my age, I don't know. I wasn't in that much pain for this one. I took ten days off before to rest my foot. It was just that the course was so flat and the uphills didn't allow me to get my pace up at all. However, I was already off pace before we got lost so it was just a recipe for a long race. However, the thought of quitting never crossed my mind '26.2 or die' is my motto."
And regardless of the time it took him to finish, Pisano still moved two marathons closer to achieving his ultimate goal. He was originally aiming to do 50, but says he upped it to 51 after a conversation with former boxer Vinny Paz.
"One night we were out, and I told him I'd do him one better," Pisano said. "Because he had 50 wins in his boxing career, I told him I'd one-up him and get 51 completed marathons without ever quitting!"
Pisano next plans to tackle the Blessing of the Fleet 10-Miler in Narragansett this summer.
In the meantime, he is embarking upon two new ventures - motivational speaking and personal training. A two-time gold medalist (thrust kick and distance kick) at the 2005 Cerebral Palsy-International Sports and Recreation World Championships, he recently gave a presentation at Hope High School and hopes to do more. He says he has also begun offering personal training at Gold's Gym in Warwick.
In addition, the University of Connecticut graduate and freelance journalist has written a children's book about a young boy in a wheelchair learning to adapt to a regular school for the first time. He says he is currently trying to find a publisher.
Read more about Pisano and his exploits on his "Team Pisano" blog at http://teampisano.blogspot.com/ He can also be reached via e-mail at jprunr@aol.com
social bookmarking
