Running has been a huge part of Andy Ploenzke's life since high school. Running has been a huge part of his son's life for as long as he can remember.
For Andy, running has become a spiritual endeavor, a way for the pastor of Prophetstown's First Congregational Church to communicate with God.
Until recently, running had been the opposite for his son, David.
"I just hated it," David said. "I remember I'd go out with my dad when I was four or five and just start crying after a while. I'd always say I had to go to the bathroom just to stop running.
"Then, while Dad was in seminary [a few years ago], I agreed to run 12 minutes a day -- and I hated every step."
David didn't even realize it, but with every step he took, running was becoming less and less of a chore.
When he finally got into track as a seventh-grader, David suddenly realized that even the distance races just weren't long enough for him.
"That's when I knew I was hooked," David remembered. "It surprised me when I realized that."
Andy was delighted that his son finally fell in love with the activity that changed his life.
Seven years ago, the high school geometry teacher experienced a life-changing moment while on a typical two-hour training run.
"That's when I heard God speak to me," Andy said. "He told me to quit my job, go into the seminary and follow His ministry."
The man who had been "not very successful" as a runner in high school -- "they called me 'The Turtle,' " Andy said with a laugh -- found out when he got to college that the farther he ran, the more successful he became. So he started running in 50K, 50-mile, 77-mile, even 24-hour races.
In fact, that fateful training run, the one which changed his life, came while Andy was preparing for a 100-mile race.
Ironically, the sport that had been such a big part of Andy's life since his high school days, the activity in which he was participating when he heard his life's calling, suddenly took a backseat.
"I tried to keep training and start His ministry, but I got a mysterious illness that plagued me for a few months," Andy explained. "I took it as a message from God that I couldn't serve two masters, so I cut down the running and focused on seminary."
But running stayed a part of Andy's life -- no surprise in a running family. His wife, Lori, ran the Chicago Marathon in 2007; David is already making a name for himself as a freshman track and cross country runner for Erie-Prophetstown; and his daughter, Diane, has taken up the sport in middle school.
Andy soon realized that it wasn't the running that God may have been warning him about with the illness, but instead the focus of and motivation for doing it.
"Now, it's a channel for me to connect with God," Andy said. "It gives me balance and peace in my life, and that's what I strive for. It helps me feel more connected to everything when I feel that way.
"Its all about doing it the right way. Some people get so wrapped up in the sports they play, they lose sight of the big picture. I feel that you need to keep things in perspective. It's a long journey, and that's what it's about for me: making that journey as a way to stay close to God and let Him lead the way."
So what's the perfect vacation for a family of runners? How about a February trip to Arizona -- to run a marathon.
Father and son pored over running magazines and the internet to find a race to run in the correct timeframe -- and that would allow a 14-year-old to compete.
"A lot of marathons have an age restriction, a minimum age of 18," Andy explained, "It was something that we wanted to do together, and something I wanted to make sure fell between cross country and track so he wouldn't hurt himself with too much exertion."
They looked all over the country, finally finding the perfect fit in the Apache Junction (Ariz.) Lost Dutchman Marathon on February 15.
"It started on Superstition Mountain; you could see the sun rise over it as you started to run, and that was pretty cool," David said. "It was out on country roads, through a really nice subdivision and then actually on one side of a highway. It was mostly desert; you started out running down the mountain, then it was pretty flat, but it finished with a few tough hills."
Both father and son went into the race with their own goals: David wanted to finish in under four hours, and Andy wanted to make sure his son enjoyed "his day."
"This was all about him; I didn't care how I did as long as he had fun and accomplished his goal," Andy said. "I was happier for him running the race in 3 hours, 43 minutes than I was about me making it the full 26.2 miles."
David and Andy each had their own stories from the race. David led his father most of the way; Andy passed him for a brief time midway through the race after David had stopped for a drink and a bathroom break.
"It took me 19 miles to catch him," Andy said with a laugh, "and he caught up and passed me again in less than one mile."
David found himself running with the same group of people for most of the race, and finally got the best of one of his main rivals.
"There was this really tall guy who I ran with basically the whole time," David remembered. "At Mile 15 we were neck-and-neck, and then he started speeding up and slowing down. Every time he got past me, he'd walk up the next hill. When he saw me coming, he'd say 'Well, it's time to run again,' and start up faster. I thought it was kind of rude, but I got that last laugh; I saw him near the finish and just sprinted as hard as I could, gave it everything I had left and passed him before the finish line."
Andy's memory of the end of the race was of being the passee, not the passer.
"There was a woman who passed me about the 22-mile mark," Andy recalled. "As I'm staggering, just trying to get to the end of the race, she passes me, looks at her friend and says, 'And I thought I was hurting; look at him.' "
Even more memorable than the marathon itself, however, were the training runs the two went on in the middle of winter in Prophetstown. Running through snowfalls and watching their step on icy roads, both Ploenzkes wondered how the winter running in Illinois would affect their performance in a 26-mile run through the desert.
"I remember one run was basically in a blizzard," David said. "It was pretty tough going sometimes, but those are what I'll remember most about this whole experience. The thing that made this so special, that made it such a thrill, was the journey and all the hard work it took to get there."
David's not done either. While Andy said it will be a while before he starts training for any more competitive events, his son has already looked ahead and set some goals for himself for the future.
"I want to run a 55-miler called the Comrade, somewhere in South Africa," David said. "I've heard that people actually start crying by the end of that race. That's my realistic goal.
"My unrealistic goal is to be the youngest person to ever run a marathon on all seven continents. I read about a guy who did it by age 26, and I think it would be cool to try and beat that. I've got 11 years to get that done."
No comments:
Post a Comment