An e-mail from a friend...

I was just surfing the web for something else, quite different, and came upon this site.  I've been "racing" the three miles at Bear Mountain for ten years now.  Each year, older and more out of shape, I find something in me to start and usually finish, although way back in the pack.  I'm sure for years the Albertus Magnus faithful wish I'd have stayed home in Virginia, so adversely must I have affected "team standings."  I was never a runner, and only do it now three or four times a week to keep my weight down.  I've never loved it.  Never met an endorphin.  But each year, my brothers and I, Bill's brothers, gather among the goose droppings, to challenge the mountain one more time.

 

I was quite moved by the Mr. Mark piece on the site, as I have been by much of what Jamie has written over the years about my brother Bill.  I never quite knew "the coach," living in different parts of the country for most of his tenure at Clarkstown.  But when we talked about his coaching, it was clear to me that nothing brought him greater satisfaction.  His athletes were very special to him.  Some, whose names I've long since forgotten, were like sons to him.  I suspect that they know who they are.  Probably even truer, most felt his genuine care for them.   

 

I run the race each year for Bill.  That's not exactly true.  I run it for myself because during the race I get closer to Bill than I do at any other time during the course of a year in which I think of him often.  When I've got to dig deeper for the strength or courage to move another ten yards, it's Bill voice that provides the encouragement.  That banter many of you remember Bill engaged in was bred among the brothers Markiewicz, and has gotten us through a lot of tough times.  Bill may have been the best of us at it, and I miss that.  At the race, it's the kind of things I hear him call me or threaten to call me if I don't keep moving that gets me over the line.

 

Thanks for your web site.  Thanks for bringing Bill so unexpectedly and specially into my day today.  Oh, how I came by your site?  I was looking for a high school soccer schedule.  I plugged my son Mark's name into Google and the name of our local high school.  Mark's a teacher now, and a coach.  Mark's also Bill's godson.  I think Bill would be proud of him.

 

Tom Markiewicz