by Harry Hall

This feature is a continuation of the Front of the Pack article on Tom Marino in the September 2002 issue of Runner Triathlete News. To get the "rest of the story" on Marino, please read the Front of the Pack article in that issue.

In the early '80's, some of the nation's top distance runners called Dallas home. Jeff Wells, John Lodwick, Kyle Heffner, Ben Motori and Juan Zetina all won prestigious races and created national headlines. Wells came within two seconds of winning the Boston Marathon in 1978. His college and seminary roommate, Lodwick placed fourth at Boston in 1981, and third a year later. Motori and Zetina, former teammates at North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) both earned Olympic Marathon berths for Kenya and Mexico, respectively. Heffner earned a spot on the 1980 US Olympic team that went nowhere due to a US-led boycott of the Games.

Then there were sub 2:20 marathoners Jeff Roth, Geoff Moore and Ed Swiatocha.

But the best of them all might not yet be mentioned. For there was one whose achievements did rival, and in many cases exceed those of his counterparts. Unlike most of the others, who continue to race or involve themselves in the sport, he retired from the sport early, making only infrequent racing appearances.

Tom Marino lives in a quiet, settled neighborhood near Dallas' White Rock Lake, the site of many of his training runs and celebrated road race victories. But in his home, which he shares with his two sons Jay, 16 and Steven, 11, his world of athletic success seems far away, if it ever existed at all.

"My boys don't really know that much about my running achievements," says Marino, whose gray hair and goatee make him look older than his 45 years, "they don't really know that I was pretty good."

Pretty good is an understatement.

Marinio mentioned two of his limitations as a lack of footspeed and a chronic side stitch.

"I was born with quite a capacity for aerobic conditioning," says Marino, whose all-time two mile PR was 8:43, "but my best high school mile was only 4:21. I just couldn't turn the wheels any faster."

As a part of a marathoners study at the Cooper Aerobics Center in 1978, Marino's VO2 max, a measure of lung capacity, was recorded as above 85. In a separate study, Frank Shorter's was 71, Jeff Galloway's 73, Steve Prefontaine's 84.

What added to Marino's side stitch problem was it's unpredictability. "If the course was flat," he says, "I was usually okay. It was worse on longer downhill races. And it didn't flare up during workouts."

He attributes the pain to some tightness in his lower back, some type of asymmetry and to anxiety and 'going over the edge' mentality needed to succeed in racing.

"I took a muscle relaxant," he says, "but I hated it. I went to the starting line and I didn't feel good."

Specialists in Dallas, chiropractors in Kansas City and New York, and Marino says, "a track guru" in Los Angeles who helped (Olympic high jumper) Dwight Stones.

"I tried everything," he says, "but nobody could help me."