I got an email from my mom yesterday morning labeled "Possible Bad News" with the note that there had been a TNT coach that suffered a heart attack during the Nation's Tri on Sunday. I looked it up in the paper and found little information in all honesty, put it out of my mind, thinking that it had to have been another chapter, as it was a national event and there was no mention of NCA. Last night, I checked my facebook to find a group labeled "In memory of Coach John Park Jr." -- and I was shocked to learn that the coach my mom had mentioned was not only one of our NCA coaches, but my very first marathon coach.
For those that knew John, his kind nature, motivating words and strong, inspiration desire to end blood cancer were some of his strongest attributes. His son, now in remission, had a form of blood cancer when he was younger, and John (and his wife Pam) ran and coached in honor of him so that other children didn't have to endure the battle that he had. His desire to end these diseases motivated him to teach others, to help others through and to ensure that not only did every person he coached cross the finish line, but that they too took each step with the desire to make a difference in so many families lives. John's passion for Team in Training changed lives on so many different levels.
I think of this and I am thankful to have known him for the effort and passion that he had toward the mission. Selfishly, I also think of how John changed and touched MY life. He was the coach who trained me for my very first marathon, which if you read through to the beginning of this blog, was riddled with self doubt, some injury and an overall fear of the unknown and if it was possible for me to even accomplish a marathon. Now most of this blog has been on the more positive side (I hope), but even though not archived here at winsamwin, I do remember countless emails that I sent to John about my knee, my self doubt, and just my fear of not being able to finish - and he always believed in me and my abilities, even when I couldn't. In addition to being a spectacular coach, he was just an all around good person. Later on in my TNT career, I was lucky enough to attend a fundraiser at his house with his wife Pam and I remember leaving feeling so inspired by both of their journeys with TNT and how much they have done for LLS.
I've thought a lot today about of how different my life would be now if I hadn't finished or if I had given up and quit like I wanted to so many times. How different things would be if it wasn't for having John in my life. I probably wouldn't have continued for another season with TNT if I hadn't had that great of an experience with him as my first coach. Granted, there are many other life experiences that could come into play, but, if I hadn't finished the first race, or had such a great experience, I wouldn't have continued - which means I wouldn't have met Kristina and had all the fun and created all the memories and good times with her. I wouldn't have taken the trip to GC that eventually lead to me falling in love with diving, which has since lead me to some of the best memories of my life and to more independence and happiness than I ever could dream of.
So many significant parts of my life over the last four years can be attributed to the journey of my first marathon - and in hand with that, was John Park, keeping me motivated, inspired and with the desire to help cure blood cancer. As I continued past my first marathon, John always was there to provide a positive comment, a joke and a reason to continue taking step after step. He probably had no clue how much he meant to my life and probably so many others, and I will take that as a lesson to make sure to tell those who have his type of influence on my life just that.
John will be missed more than any words can say properly in a blog. His memory will live on within the National Capital Area Chapter and within each of our hearts that he touched - and, as both my father and mother told me last night, I am comforted in knowing that he left us doing something that he loved, for a cause that he loved.
May his memory live forever and his mission and dream to cure blood cancer come true.
THANK YOU John for not only touching MY life but also the life of so many others.
