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
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Hello, my name is Jason and I am 36 and I have Cerebral Palsy. I joined this site about two-and-a-half years ago. Before joining Lovebyrd I had never dated a physically challenged girl, but then it happened. I found a girl I connected with, but over time our personalities clashed and the fact that we live far apart eventually ended this relationship.
I thought I would give up on Lovebyrd and just go back to looking for relationships for myself, but then I decided to give this site one more try. One day early this fall I was just searching to see if any local girl joined the site that was “my type”. Sure enough there was a new member who joined and it said she was from the next town from me, but come to find out she currently lives in the virgin Islands and is awaiting housing here. Her name was Nina and she was very pretty and sounded like we had a lot in common. I immorally sent her a little note and a few days later she replied! From that day we have chatted and talked on the phone daily for the past four months. We really developed a close relationship.
Last week Nina and her wonderful came to Rhode Island to visit me for a week. We both were very nervous to meet face to face. We hoped the chemistry we had chatting would be as great as it was on the phone/computer. To our surprise we clicked even better than we ever expected. We were together the entire 7 days. We went shopping with her parents, out to eat with my friends, and even spent a cozy New Year’s Eve together just watching TV and talking at my house. To be honest I think that was one of the best weeks of my live.
I never thought I could ever be so in love with a woman with a disability. I hope in the not to off future to ask Nina to get engaged. I know we will have our struggles and we will not be rich but I feel our love for each other will help us overcome all the obstacles!
I love you Nina and thanks Mr. and Mrs. Garcia for accepting me as I am!
Jason Pisano.
I thought I would give up on Lovebyrd and just go back to looking for relationships for myself, but then I decided to give this site one more try. One day early this fall I was just searching to see if any local girl joined the site that was “my type”. Sure enough there was a new member who joined and it said she was from the next town from me, but come to find out she currently lives in the virgin Islands and is awaiting housing here. Her name was Nina and she was very pretty and sounded like we had a lot in common. I immorally sent her a little note and a few days later she replied! From that day we have chatted and talked on the phone daily for the past four months. We really developed a close relationship.
Last week Nina and her wonderful came to Rhode Island to visit me for a week. We both were very nervous to meet face to face. We hoped the chemistry we had chatting would be as great as it was on the phone/computer. To our surprise we clicked even better than we ever expected. We were together the entire 7 days. We went shopping with her parents, out to eat with my friends, and even spent a cozy New Year’s Eve together just watching TV and talking at my house. To be honest I think that was one of the best weeks of my live.
I never thought I could ever be so in love with a woman with a disability. I hope in the not to off future to ask Nina to get engaged. I know we will have our struggles and we will not be rich but I feel our love for each other will help us overcome all the obstacles!
I love you Nina and thanks Mr. and Mrs. Garcia for accepting me as I am!
Jason Pisano.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
TEAM PISANO GUIDE RUNNERS
RANDY SPELLMAN
Vy Ho
Paterno Quintas "Q"
DR. SCOTT DRESDEN
JOHN GALLO
STEVE GALLO
JASON ALMIEDA
NATHAN TOMPKINS
CHAD JOHNSON
CHARLIE OBRIAS
WAYNE ROWE
MATT MEDINA
STEVEN TINGLE
KARLY McTAGET
TOM GORDEN
TRAINING PARTNERS FOR MY ATTEMPT AT BACK-TO-BACK MARATHONS
JOSH CORONA
PETER REILLY
JOE LAMPMAN
NATHAN TOMPKINSTEAM PISANO SPONSORS
DAVE WALKER OWNER OF GOLD'S GYM IN WARWICK
JOE SEVIGNY OWNER OF ULTIMATE PHYSIQUE PERSONAL TRAINING
DR. SCOTT DRESEN
MIKe LEFEBVRE, OWNER OF DENICO, INC CO,
CINDY & JOHN WHELEN
JUDGE FRANK CAPRIO
MARY & BOB ARPIN
THE FEOLES
THE WEST WARWICK CIVIC CENTER
AND ALL OTHERS WHO CONTRIBUTED
SPECIAL THANKS TO
MY STEP FATHER AND MY MOTHER, RAY & MICHELE BURDICK. WITHOUT THEIR ASSISTANCE NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE TAKEN PLACE!
LASTLY TO MY BIGGEST FAN AND MY INSPIREATION
MY GRANDMA, BARBRA PISANO! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME THROUGHOUT MY ENTIRE LIFE!
Thank You
