 Friday, June 29, 2007
Remembering and Running for Doug Stern, R.I.P.
I lost a great coach and friend, Doug Stern, to kidney cancer on Monday morning, June 25, 2007.
After I pulled my right hamstring at Mile 20 of the Berlin Marathon on September 25, 2004, I was referred to Doug by another friend and physical therapist Dr. Dan Hamner.
Like other injured runners, I went to Doug, the father of Deep Water Running, to heal my various injuries on Monday nights at John Jay College. But I found much more, especially priceless lifelong friendships with Nina, John, Bruce, Hank, Sharon, Kathleen, Stu, and many others.
Some of you may know that I almost drowned twice when I was 10 and 18. Therefore, swimming in anything deeper than Jacuzzis and kiddie pools was a challenge that brought back the ultimate fear of being helpless while drowning that I pray none of you ever experience. As Doug said about his fear of heights, "don't let your fear own you. You own your fear."
Since I was "focused" on my goal of Seven (Marathon) Continents, I had to overcome my fear of swimming in deep water. I put my floatation device around my waist and gingerly walked from the shallow to the deeper part of the pool. I thankfully started to kind of float though my head bobbed up and down in the water.
Almost immediately after getting in the deeper water, I heard this sarcastic voice yell "this is your elbow and this is your *ss. Learn the difference!." I thought of yelling back "hey, bro, I am literally trying to keep my head above water. And, yes, I do know my body parts," but I was too busy trying to keep my head above water. Doug was in his element breaking in a new student, yours truly. He didn't discriminate yelling at all students of all ages and races. Before long, I became accustomed to other "Sternism" like "arms drive legs", "f*ck you, keep going!"
Anyway, I worked hard and thankfully became faster than many of my lighter land only based runners. Thanks to Doug and Dr. Dan I finished eight marathons on seven continents in 21 months. I met many great friends like Steve, Linda, Jeff, Kal, and others all over the world.
It is often said that a pebble dropped in a pond makes a ripple affect all over the world. Since hundreds (if not thousands) of other runners and myself will be able to run injury free for the rest our lives, we are his legacy of good health and happiness. Doug is a boulder in the pool of life that will have a ripple effect long after we all have passed from this world.
Weeks before he died, I received permission from Doug to raise money for kidney cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as a member of Fred's Team. To donate, please go to my Fred's Team webpage and click "Donate". If this link does not appear, please copy and paste the one of these links into your browser:
All proceeds benefit kidney cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Thank you very much in advance for sponsoring me in running in Doug's memory.
Though Doug wasn't the most religious person, I think Saint Peter is learning all about "arms drive legs", "keep your legs pointed straight down", etc. Doug, hope to see you in Heaven's deep water pool.
Posted by a sad but grateful Tank in NY.
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