Reflections: A Mile at a Time

 

I went to Stevenson High School in Livonia, MI and graduated in 1971.  Our 50^th Reunion was held last year on May 21.  It was actually held a year late due to the uncertainty of the Covid Pandemic.  I wrote about it twice in this blog.

 

My 50th High School Reunion

1971 - 2021: 50 Years

 

I was not able to attend the reunion but enjoyed reconnecting with classmates via social media (Facebook for people our age).  I saw that Mark Macy and his wife, Pam Pence Macy who graduated a year after us in 1972, were going to the reunion.  While we weren’t the best of friends, we were certainly acquaintances.

As far as I can remember, Mark and I never had a class together at Stevenson.  I just checked and he didn’t sign my yearbook… only because our paths did not cross that often.  But when they did, we always exchanged pleasantries and I remember him as being quite genuine and agreeable.  I also remember he was a multisport athlete.  The yearbook reminded me that he played football, basketball, and baseball in his sophomore year and varsity soccer and baseball in his junior and senior years.  For some reason, I knew that Mark had gone to Michigan State and played lacrosse I lost track of him after that.

Via Facebook, I learned that Mark’s athletic endeavors did not stop after high school and college but blossomed into something very special.  He did triathlons which evolved to high endurance running and then high adventure high endurance competitions.  In our reunion website, I learned from his biography that he was an attorney and that, sadly, he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  There was also a statement in the same bio about wanting to live life to the fullest and not giving in to the disease.  Upon reading that I wanted to be at the reunion just to see him and wish him well.

I learned on FB that Mark and his son Travis had written a book, A Mile at a Time:  A father and son’s inspiring Alzheimer’s journey of love, adventure, and hope.  The book was to be released on March 13 or thereabouts.  Amazon gave the option to pre-order it which I did.  The book arrived this afternoon of March 14.  I took it out of the box and just sat down and read almost the whole thing.  I stopped to let it all sink in and read the last thirty pages today at a more leisurely place. Now, here I am writing about it.

I loved this glimpse into the lives of Mark and Pam through the eyes of their son Travis.  I learned a lot about them, Pam’s need for a liver transplant which was successful but how the lifelong medications impacted her kidneys resulting in not one but two kidney transplants.  I learned about Mark’s life since I last saw him, probably at our high school graduation.  I learned of their love for Colorado where they settled and raised a family.  I saw how Mark embraced, with an amazing passion and commitment of time, extreme endurance competitions.  It is impressive.  The kinds of competitions he participated in were, to put it bluntly, unbelievable to the vast majority of people.

I was always impressed by anyone that ran a marathon.  Anyone running 26.2 miles in half a day had my respect and admiration.  When I first heard about the Ironman Triathlon, I was blown away.  An Ironman starts with 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike segment, and is topped of with a full marathon run.  It stuck me as insane, but now is commonplace.  People train long and hard for a marathon where the average time is about 4.5 hours.  People train longer and harder for an Ironman Triathlon where the average completion time is 12.5 hours.

What kind of races did Mark participate in?  Here are a few examples:

 

• The Leadville Trail 100 Run (aka The Race Across The Sky or the LT100) is an ultramarathon held annually on rugged trails and dirt roads near Leadville, Colorado, through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. First run in 1983, the race course climbs and descends 15,600 feet (4,800 m), with elevations ranging from 9,200 to 12,620 feet (2,800–3,850 m). In most years, fewer than half the starters complete the race within the 30-hour time limit.  ~ Wikipedia
  
  
• The Eco-Challenge was a team based ultrarace run in different terrains around the world.  It was run from 1995 to 2002 and revived again in 2020. “The teams raced non-stop, 24 hours a day, over a rugged 300-mile (500 km) course, participating in such disciplines as trekking, whitewater canoeing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, scuba diving, mountaineering, camel-back riding, and mountain biking. Teams originally consisted of five members, but the team size was reduced to four members early in the event's history.   A feature of the race is the mandatory mix of men and women for all participating teams.” ~Wikipedia
  
  
• Iditapsport is a 100 mile race.  It is based on the famous Iditarod dogsled race.  Per Travis and Mark’s book, “Instead of dogsleds, participants used either Nordic skis, running shoes, snowshoes, or bicycle to navigate the course, pulling their own emergency supply sled behind them.”  Mark did it by snowshoes.

 

Until I read this book, I was unaware these events even existed.  Mark competed in these events and more.  I was so impressed with Mark and Travis’s commitment, dedication to training, and investment in equipment to participate in these kinds of ultra-endurance races.  There is science involved in the training regimen and planning out of the pacing, hydration, and calorie intake for these events.  I was impressed but not surprised by the logistics of assembling everything needed for the events and coordination of effort in the team events like the Eco-Challenge which Mark’s team, the Stray Dogs, won once.

It is never easy when one is diagnosed with a terminal disease.   It is harder for most of us to understand when it happens to someone young or, in Mark’s case, someone who is in superb shape.  We admire athletes like this and think them invincible.  Yet, cancer, Parkinson’s, heart attacks, and dementia strike them as readily as they do the general population.  It happened to Lou Gehrig, Bruce Lee, Jim Fixx, Brian Piccolo, Ernie Davis, and a few people I know.  It just always shocks us more when it happens athletes in superb condition. 

In reading A Mile at a Time, I was impressed by Mark’s dedication to family and friends.  I was impressed by his don’t quit attitude, his perseverance.  I admired and am inspired by his reaction to his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s on October 16, 2018… he wasn’t about to quit and was going to live his life to the fullest enjoying his sport and family.   He and Travis decided to form a team, Team Endure, and compete in the 2020 Eco-Challenge which took place in Fiji.  Amazon Prime produced a 10-episode series, World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, in which Mark was in six of the episodes which I will most certainly watch.

I loved the book.  Travis Macy really produced an amazing homage to his father and inspiration to anyone diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and their families.  Again, I really wish I had gone to the reunion just to meet and chat with Mark and Pam.

Would I have been aware of the book had it not been for our high school reunion?  I doubt it.  Would I have read the book if I had not known Mark and Pam from high school?  Probably not unless a family member or close friend recommended it.

I am certainly inspired and enriched for reading it and sincerely wish Mark, Pam, and family the best.

 

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Here is a video clip from 9News in Denver featuring Travis and Mark from September of 2022.