The Marathon Man

by Ray Fauteux

When I look back, it really wasn't a great time in my life. Thirty years ago my life consisted of working five days a week. The other two days of the week I would lay on the couch smoking cigarettes and drink beer. I was smoking around 35 cigarettes a day by the age of 29 thanks to habit I had picked up in high school. At the same time, I would usually put back 8 or so bottles of beer on any given Saturday or Sunday. I had no motivation and a life that was going nowhere fast.

That was until that one special day in the Summer of 1976. I was doing my usual beer-drinking, chain smoking, channel surfing routine and happened to land on the closing ceremonies of the Montreal Olympic Games. In those days, the marathon was the marquee event and was the final event that was scheduled to finish in Olympic Stadium, just prior to the closing ceremonies. I just happened to be on time to see the first runner enter the stadium that was packed with over 60,000 spectators. He was all alone as he made the final lap of the stadium toward the finish line.

It struck me how amazing it must have felt to finish such a long event and have the finish line in sight. To this day I can't say for sure what happened, but it really moved me and managed to ignite a spark somewhere deep inside. I thought how much I would love to experience the same thing this runner was. In the space of ten minutes I went from "I wish I could," to "I think I can," to "I'm going to do it!"

The very next day, I started my running career. It started very slowly, but at least it was a start. Too embarrassed to run outside, I began my running inside a gymnasium. The first day all I could manage was two laps before I started coughing and getting dizzy. It was at that moment that I knew the cigarettes would have to go. Within a week I quit a 12 year habit. In the 30 years since I have never smoked another cigarette.

I ran a little bit every single day. Within a month I was doing 5 miles inside the gym. My breathing began to get easier and easier with each passing day. I coughed up a lot of weird stuff for a while, but I think the running cleared my lungs of all the tar and nicotine very quickly.

Soon there were simply too many corners to run inside the gym and I took my running outside. Within two months my 5 miles became 10 miles and then 15 miles. Within 5 months I entered my first marathon that was to take place in my city 3 months later. The cigarettes and beer were history. In a total of just 8 months from being inspired by an event that changed my life, the tiny spark that was ignited that day became a raging inferno. There I was at the starting line with 65 others taking on the challenge of my very first marathon.

I ran with complete abandon that day. I ran like I had wings on my feet. It was such a moving experience and I knew that my life would never be the same again. At about the 18 mile mark, I hit that invisible wall big-time, but I didn't care. Sure it slowed me down, but nothing would stop me from crossing that finish line. After 30 years of experience at endurance events, I now fully understand the magnitude of what I had accomplished in that one amazing year. I went from a unmotivated couch-potato to a marathon finisher.

The marathon was the ultimate endurance event, and I had conquered it. What was truly amazing was my time of 3 hours and 28 minutes. I didn't realize just how fast that was. Just to put it into perspective, when I look back to the split times of that race, I was on pace for a marathon time of around 2 hours 45 minutes when I hit the wall. Of course there was no way I would ever be able to maintain that pace, but I had no idea of pace, diet, training, or anything else back then. Just the fact that I hung on to finish in the time I did was truly remarkable when I look back on how everything developed.

I went on to run in over 35 marathons, two 50-mile ultra races, and competed in 14 Ironman Triathlons.

From there I went on to build a website that attracts visitors from over 50 countries every month. It's an inspirational and motivational site that spreads the message to the ordinary people of the world just how extraordinary they can be if they just give themselves a chance and take that first small step.

The website led to a book that is quickly gaining a reputation for being one of the best triathlon books on the market. I believe it's because people can relate to the struggles I went through to eventually get me to where I am today. It gives them hope and inspires them to "become more."

There is no doubt in my mind that most people on this earth are capable of so much more and can amaze even themselves if they just have someone or something give them a little nudge in the right direction.