Brian Cole has crossed the finish line seven times in the past six weeks. He has just one more to go on Nov. 24 to meet his goal of running eight marathons in eight weeks in hopes of raising money to help fund a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
Why does he want to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes? It’s to support his wife, Karen Levy Cole, who has been battling the disease for 41 years.
“She is very healthy and doing very well in large part due to all of the new technology that helps keep her blood sugars in check day in and day out,” Cole wrote in his blog, “Running for my Wife — 8 Marathons in 8 Weeks” (Runningformywife.com).
“Karen’s journey is my journey every single day. I do what I can to support her. What better way to support my wife than to bring together the thing I love the most and use it to make a change in the world.”
Brian Cole made the decision to run eight marathons in eight weeks after seeing the movie “The Spirit of the Marathon” this summer. The movie follows a group of people who are preparing for the 2012 Rome Marathon.
“One person in the movie was running 52 marathons in 52 weeks to raise money for a charity that was close to her,” Cole said. “That got me thinking. I said something to Karen and she said you are absolutely not running 52 marathons, we can’t work that out.”
But Cole was already registered to run in the New York City Marathon as well as races in Wichita, Kan., and Tulsa, Okla. So he had another discussion with his wife, telling her he’d like to see just how many marathons he could actually run without undertaking a lot of travel.
Once he did his research he devised the eight marathon schedule, noting there is no special significance to choosing eight.
“Some were local and some not too far away. The farthest was New York,” he said.
Karen Cole said they knew running multiple marathons this year would be a huge commitment.
“Getting ready to run one marathon is a very big physical, emotional and time commitment, but multiple marathons require an enormous amount of dedication. Brian eventually did decide to pursue this dream, in part because he loves running and in part because he decided that he wanted to help raise both awareness and money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation,” she said.
“I have been diabetic for over 40 years and Brian knows, more than anyone else, the effects of diabetes and the headaches and heartache involved. Establishing ‘Running for My Wife’ is such a huge show of love and devotion that I continue to be beyond proud of him!” she continued.
Brain Cole, 43, is the director of catering for the Panera Bread Bakery Cafes franchise that owns 34 locations in Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita, Lawrence and Manhattan. He also happens to be a certified running coach and said it’s extremely unusual for someone to run this many marathons in such a short time. In fact he definitely doesn’t recommend it.
“As coaches we tell you you shouldn’t run more than one or two marathons a year. You need to give your body time to rest between them,” he said.
On his blog he wrote that he has taken on this challenge simply because he can.
“I run to take care of myself, to be healthy, to be strong. I run to prove to myself that I can do anything. If I can make it through eight marathons in eight weeks, what can’t I accomplish?”
The last marathon in this quest will be Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, Okla., on Sunday, Nov. 24. The first of the eight was the Mo Cowbell Marathon Oct. 6 in St. Charles, Mo. Since then he’s run in the Prairie Fire Marathon in Wichita, the Blue Springs Marathon and last week’s Pilgrim Pacer. He finished that one at 3:36.39, two minutes better than his previous best. He also won his age group. Both Coles ran in the New York City Marathon Nov. 3.
In the middle of October Cole actually doubled up and ran two marathons in two days — the Kansas City Marathon was first on Saturday, Oct. 19. He then jumped in the car and drove to Des Moines, Iowa, for another marathon on Oct. 20.
“That was one of the most physically demanding weekends,” said Cole, who has been running since 2005.
“You just have to eat and drink and keep hydrated. The next morning you just kind of have to go and eventually your body just falls back into it. After a couple of miles the muscles relax and everything just fit,” he continued.
Karen Cole said physically, “Brian has gotten through seven marathons almost pain free, a testament of his training and dedication!” It’s definitely been a challenge for him.
“I wanted to do something that was kind of extreme and bring awareness to the JDRF. I want to raise money for that cause. The woman in the movie who was running 52 marathons in 52 weeks inspired me and I thought surely I could do something like that and train myself to the point where I could successfully do that,” he said.
He’s been running 20 miles every weekend since July because he wanted his body and legs ready so that he could run the 26. 2 miles in each of the eight marathons.
“My body is basically ready for it. But I had been running 20 miles every weekend for a while anyway,” he said.
When Cole runs the 20 miles, he does it in one day and usually doesn’t run any longer than three hours. To accomplish that and still attend family activities, he often gets up very early in the morning.
“There were a lot of early 5 a.m. runs that happened over the weekend. Not to mention Karen was training for the marathon as well so we had a lot of juggling of schedules and moving around of who was running where and when and what days but it all worked out,” said the father of 15-year-old Sam and 12-year-old Hannah.
The local JDRF chapter, Cole said, has been very supportive helping him get the word out about his fundraising effort. As of Monday, he had raised $2,588 toward his $5,000 goal. To donate, visit http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/briancole/8marathons8weeks.
What’s next?
“One of my goals is to get 2,000 miles running this year. I’m at about 1,600 now so once I get done with these marathons I’ll concentrate on that goal. Then I’ll probably sit back and figure out what I’ll do next year. I don’t have any plans for next year yet, I want to get through this first.”
