It’s January 19, 2014 and I’m getting ready to run my first marathon at Clearwater Beach in Florida. I’ve been training for this thing and I’m ready to make this long run. My goal is to do this under 5 hours. Leading up to this race, I had done numerous triathlons — Sprint and Olympic Distance — and multiple mini marathons; however, I had never run a marathon. I stopped doing the triathlons in favor of running my first marathon — mainly because it was winter and there were not any triathlons in the winter because the swim portion would be way too cold. Furthermore, I wanted to prove that I could both run a marathon and that I could run it at a decent pace.
I loved working out because it relieved all the stress from my job of helping run Hare Chevrolet with my sister, Monica Peck. We loved the car business, but it would occasionally get stressful due to dealing with different kinds of employees and customers. Some were fantastic and some were a challenge…
We had quickly become the largest Chevy Dealership in the State of Indiana and we loved competing with the other stores. We were constantly looking for niches that would help improve our business. However, I really needed the exercise to stay balanced. I was going to run this marathon with a buddy of mine that lived in Florida, who was a consultant in the car business, and who had become a very close friend. He had run about 60 marathons and was only going to do the half portion of this one because he had hurt himself at his previous race.
Leading up to this race, I had no idea that I was about to experience a life altering change. In less than three weeks, I would find out that I had lung cancer!! That’s right — in three weeks — I would find out that I had run my FIRST marathon with LUNG CANCER… I had never smoked in my life and had recently run numerous mini marathons, triathlons, and now a marathon…
I kept having these chest pains and I “thought” it was just due to stress… Finally, one evening my chest had been bothering me all day. I was recently divorced and it was just the two kids and me. I could no longer endure the pain so it was about 7pm at night and I told the kids — Mommy has to get some relief. This is not a big deal, but the only place I know to go at this time is the emergency room…
For the first time in my life, I take my two kids and myself to the emergency room. I tell the Doctors that I’m having horrible chest pains. That gets you right to the “front of the line”… I get right in and they run numerous tests… The Doctor comes back and says, “You have pleurisy on the left side of your chest, but you have a big lesion on your right side. You are going to have to get this checked out as soon as possible.”
At this time, I am 42 years old, never smoked in my life, and I am in great shape. I am thinking to myself — there’s no way that I have lung cancer!! How could I have run a MARATHON with Lung Cancer? I am convinced that they are just not sure and that it will be something much milder. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks later I would do a PET Scan and learn that I had Stage 3 Lung Cancer… My life would be permanently changed.
My biggest lesson is that life is truly a gift. I am about to start my fourth year of what is now Stage 4 Lung Cancer. Despite this disease, I am very optimistic about my future. My Doctor group is at IU Health and it’s the same group that took care of Lance Armstrong for his Prostate Cancer. They have expanded their specialty to Lung Cancer. I have quickly learned that everyday is a gift and it is up to us to make the absolute most of it.