Nice guys finish last, but this one doesn't mind

It must be true that "nice guys finish last."

At 84, Rev. John Malecki has run 25 marathons and recently completed the Falmouth Road Race on Cape Cod, Mass., but he almost always happily trails the pack as the final runner to break the yellow tape.

"I run for fitness, rather than improving my time," explained the staff psychologist for the diocesan Consultation Center and chaplain to Teresian House Nursing Home, both in Albany. "I'm running for my own health and well-being."

On the road

Sobering news from a doctor jolted Father Malecki into a jog at 63. Having injured his back as a teenager and undergone spinal fusion, he suffered from arthritis that was rapidly aging him.

"You'll be in a wheelchair in a couple of years unless you make some major changes," the doctor stated. He recommended outdoor exercise in which Father Malecki could set his own pace.

"I can't tell you why, but a short time later, I was registered for the New York City Marathon!" the priest recalled, chuckling.

Marathons

Using a training program created by coach Bob Glover of the New York Road Runners Club (www.nyrr.org), Father Malecki started training. It took him 18 months to prepare for a 26-mile marathon, and many times he despaired of fulfilling the commitment.

"It was awkward, stiff, challenging -- and I just kept seeing that wheelchair," he said.

He finished the race in five and a half hours, even finding within himself a "new level of energy" halfway through, when he'd begun to wonder if he'd "hit the wall."

He moved on to running another two dozen such races: 15 in New York City, six in Boston and one in Schroon Lake.

Finishing line

"Most of the time, I am the last person" to finish a marathon, Father Malecki confessed.

Two years ago, it took him 10-and-a-half hours to complete the Boston Marathon, but his perseverance drew the attention of every major news network. Cameras were trained on him at the finish line, and one reporter even ran along with him for a mile to interview him about his life.

"People ran out of their houses saying, 'We saw you on the five o'clock news!'" he remembered. "One woman said, 'I am fighting breast cancer; because of you, I am going to beat it.' We both filled up with tears."

Praying and running

Father Malecki's current exercise regimen would astonish many younger and fitter men. He runs six mornings a week, doing a couple of miles on weekdays and "treating" himself to a 15- to 20-mile run on the weekends.

As he runs, he prays, "I love the Lord God with all my strength and all my soul, and love my neighbor as myself," and then repeats it, beginning with "I love Jesus."

The priest explained that "running means the opportunity to call forth the fullness to which God has called me, in body, mind and spirit."

Besides, he added, running produces the pleasant effect of endorphins entering the bloodstream, relaxes the muscles and has been scientifically proven to have a positive effect on the immune system.

What's more, he added, 21 years after a doctor's gloomy prognosis, "I'm not in a wheelchair."

(9/22/05) [[In-content Ad]]