63 marathons in 63 days: Marathon man running for life
On Sept. 3, Tim Borland set out on a cross-country tour. But this was no ordinary tour. Borland started in California and will end in New York on Nov. 4 - by foot.
He's running 63 marathons in 63 days to help raise awareness and funds for ataxia-telangiectasia, a disease that combines the worst symptoms of cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, cancer and immune deficiencies.
Most of Borland's stops are to meet and encourage individuals with A-T. This past Friday, the marathon man stopped at River Valley School in Lemont to meet fifth-grader Alyssa Wood.
He met Alyssa, was given a heroes welcome from the students and faculty and went to her class for a question-and-answer session. He then completed marathon No. 33. He was in Michigan on Saturday and back for the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, continuing his journey in the fight of A-T.
Borland decided to partner with A-T Children's Project to create The A-T CureTour through his friendship with the Achilles family, whose 15-year-old daughter Cathryn has A-T.
Q: Why did you decided to come to Lemont?
A: When we put on this tour, the purpose was to be intentional about our stops. I wanted to be on a tour where I could run every day and support different kids around the country, but also as much as we could do that in their own towns. To meet the community there and help on a community level build more awareness and recognition. ... And today it's all about Alyssa.
Q: Have you even seen a reception like the one you got today (when the students and faculty lined the hallways on both sides and cheer both you and Alyssa as you made your way around the school)?
A: Not inside. One of our runs was outside of school. There were hundreds of kids screaming at the top of their lungs with signs up and down the fences - so much that your ears started ringing and that was cool. But this was definitely something we haven't done yet so this was fun.
<table width="200" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" align="right">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Age :31
Family: Wife, Michelle; two kids
Hometown: Right now it's a 29-foot RV
Profession (before tour): Personal trainer in California
Reason for tour: To help the A-T Children's Project - a nonprofit organization aimed at finding a cure or life-improving therapies for A-T
Daily run: 26.2 miles
Completed: Chicago Marathon in 4 hours, 16 minutes, 30 seconds
Fun facts: Tour will cover 1650.6 miles (8,716,168 feet). He will visit 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Montreal. He will go through 10 pairs of running shoes. And he will consume 8,000-10,000 calories daily
More information: Go to www.atcuretour.org</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Q: What challenges have you had along the way?
A: Most of it was early on, starting from scratch and running every day. It's a 183-mile week, and no one runs 183 miles a week. In the beginning my quads were getting a bit damaged. I couldn't even kneel down, but I had to just push through those. Early on, like Day 3, I hit a wall really hard. I didn't eat enough food so I was caloricly deficient. I didn't think I could go on, but we continued to persevere. And you meet kids like Alyssa and you see what they go through every day and you push on. They press on, we're pressing on.
My trainer at Stanford said that Week 4 would be touch and go, and sure enough Sunday night-Monday morning my (Glycemic Index) issues started surfacing and my stomach was not feeling well. Most of the week I was experiencing GI problems, but right at the end of Week 4 it stopped liked she said. ... And now I'm fighting a cold. We face challenges along the way, but nothing greater than what kids with A-T face on a daily basis so that continues to inspire me.
Q: What drives you to continue?
A: We've met some cute little 2-year olds and we've met 26-year-olds and these kids just push. Their bodies are failing on them and there's a lot of things they can't do because their bodies won't let them, and if there's something I can do to help them, then by all means I want to do it. I get a break. I spend 4 1/2 hours a day running, and when I'm done I get a break and I get to rest. When this whole tour's over I get to stop. For them it's every day.
Q: Has the tour caught on more as you've gone on?
A: For some reason, you think the bigger towns you're going to get the bigger reaction, but the bigger towns you get swallowed up and the smaller towns we've had a lot more people come out. We've had people pull over, people honk and wave, we had a lady yesterday chase us down with a 50-dollar bill and wanted to give us money. I had a dog try to eat me yesterday and I had to attack it with my stroller.
Q: Can you imagine what the finish will be like after completing the New York Marathon?
A: It's weird. I'm sure it's going to be like crossing the finish line each day here when there's tons of people cheering, just escalated 50 times. It's going to be surreal. I'm sure it's not going to hit me until Monday morning when I get up and I'm like, 'I don't have to run? I'm done?' I'm sure that's when it will really hit me.
Q: You did personal training before the tour. What will you do when you're finished?
A: We're uprooted and my family's with me. This is like our missionary work. We're doing God's work right now and we'll see after this - see where the Lord takes us.
Q: What is a typical day like?
A: It just all changed because we just came out of the south where we started every day at 6 a.m. to beat the heat and humidity. This morning we woke up in the RV just parked outside the hotel. Usually the morning is just getting up, getting the kids going, getting out of the RV - doing a little something in the morning. Then it's moving everything to the place where we're starting the run. Then it's about an hour to get the strollers out and to get myself ready - get food packed, get drinks packed and get everything put together to actually leave. Then we do about a one-o'clock sendoff. We get back about 5, do a fun run where anybody can come and run the last couple miles with us. They have the tailgate party going on and things like that. We'll hang out at that for a bit, get back in the RV around 7 and then we're back on the road driving to the next place.
(Final three questions courtesy of Alyssa Wood's fifth-grade class on Friday) Q: Will you run forever?
A: I'll keep running until my body won't let me do it anymore. So I'll run until hopefully I'm 60.
Q: When was your first race?
A: Ten years ago was my first race. I ran in the Wildfire Triathlon in California. I caught the bug then and it hasn't stopped.
Q: What is your favorite stuff?
A: I drink a lot of water right now. That's my favorite drink.