Section II Alumni: Where Are They Now? Part II

By Daniel Hughes Schenectady HS, ‘96

Recently, I received an email from Andy Rickert, a fellow Section II alumni. It turns out Andy is organizing a Section II alumni race for the Guilderland Invitational this Fall. The purpose of this event is for people to go back and relive all the great memories and experiences of their high school cross country days. There is nothing in this world I would like more then to be able to participate in this event. Unfortunately, this will not be possible. Three years ago I was diagnosed with bone cancer in my right leg. Because of the surgery I had for this, I am no longer able to run. People say cancer is just about the toughest thing a person can go through and yes, it was horrendous. However, I had done 13 mile training runs in 90 degree heat. I had done 14 x 400m repeats alone at night. I had put my body on the line countless times in races. Cancer had no clue what it was up against.

My high school running career, performance-wise, was not all that spectacular. I ran 4:46 for the 1600m and a 16:36 for the Saratoga cross country course, which I believe is a few steps shy of a 5K. These times may not have put me at the top of Section II, but the experiences I had were some that will stay with me forever. Schenectady HS was not one of the upper echelon teams like Shenendehowa, Guilderland or Saratoga, but I have great memories of trying to win our league title. Beating teams like Albany and Amsterdam to win that elusive Big 10 title seamed like the most important thing in the world those days. There were no State championships for me in high school, just great memories of a wonderful sport.

After high school I floated around for a little bit. I went to Schenectady Community College and competed in many local track meets and road races. I picked up my training a bit from high school and dropped my times down to 4:30 for the mile and 16:04 for 5K. Eventually, I found myself at SUNY Cortland running for the somewhat famous coach Jack Daniels. I was improving dramatically that fall, running 26:17 for 8K. In the spring, however, I started to have a lot of knee pain, which kept me out of the track season. It turned out I had bone cancer in my tibia bone, right below my knee. When the doctors told me that, because of the surgery I would need, I would not be able to run anymore, I was understandably crushed.

Running absolutely helped me in my fight against cancer. For one, I was in much better shape then most cancer patients. I was young, active and very healthy. Also, I was used to dealing with physical challenges. Lying in a hospital bed a week at a time getting chemotherapy drugs pumped into you is not exactly a lot of fun. Since running was out of the picture I had to create other forms of entertainment for myself. I used to see how long I could go without taking either my pain meds or anti-nausea meds. Eventually, I got to the point where I would not need them at all. I used the same mental tricks I used to use in tough races and workouts to show cancer who was boss. I finished my chemotherapy treatments in a total of 9 months. My doctor told me he has never seen anybody ever finish this type of chemo treatment in under a year before and that I was the healthiest cancer patient he had ever seen. This does not mean that it was easy at all. At one point, I had a bad reaction to some of the chemo drugs. My kidneys were close to shutting down and they told me I would probably have to go on a morphine drip. I found out later when they say that, it pretty much means you are going to die. I battled back though and surged over the top of that hill and cruised down the other side.

In a perverse way it’s funny, although running helped me beat cancer, it was cancer that took away my ability to run. I am not sure who is in charge of deciding who gets cancer and who does not. Hopefully, I taught that person a lesson. Don’t mess with us runners, it’s a loosing battle. I still have faith that one day I will be able to run again. If I could there would be no better place to do it then at a cross country race, surrounded by my former teammates, competitors, friends and coaches. So take the opportunity that I don’t have and get the old gang back together. Go back to a cross country meet and build some new memories.

Are you a Section II Alumni? The Pace Setter would love to hear about the role high school cross-country has played in your life. Please email Andrew Rickert at ramjet7@yahoo.com and tell us your story. Stay tuned for more details about the Guilderland Invitational Alumni Race this September!

This article was published in the May issue of the "Pace Setter" magazine.