LECOM IT Specialist - Marathon Man RunningAgainst Fear

Mark Badaracco is an Information Systems Manager at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM).He will be running as a LECOM- sponsored athlete in the 127th Boston Marathon in April of this year. The story of Badaracco’s journey from pack-a-day smoker to highly conditioned athlete bears telling, for his is a tale of determination, inspiration, and American pride.

The journey began in 2008, when Badaracco ran his very first race. His sister-in-law, a high school cross country runner, had been diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's Disease. Determined to not allow the disease to prevent her from living a full and meaningful life, she remained an active runner; and she founded a non-profit organization known as Running for Parkinson's. In 2008, she held her first race in partnership with Parkinson Partners of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Badaracco volunteered at each event until it was halted in 2020.

That event sparked Badaracco’s interest and despite his smoking habit, he spent the next few years dabbling in running, primarily running only on race days.

In 2013, Badaracco was at home just a week or so after a Parkinson's benefit race when the news broke that the Boston Marathon had been marred by terrorism as two homemade bomb explosions near the finish line took the lives of several people and injured many more participants and spectators.

“As I watched the situation unfold, I vowed then and there that I would become healthy enough to qualify and to run the Boston Marathon one day,” recalled the LECOM analyst. “I wanted the world to see that we are not scared, and we will not let fear deter us,” he avowed. Badaracco began to run more frequently. He gave up smoking later in that year and he began a serious commitment to bettering his health.

In 2018, Badaracco started running an ever increasing number of races, with his pledge to run the Boston Marathon firmly fixed in his mind. Despite getting into his "stride" and “making great progress,” Badaracco recognized that the longest distance he had run at that point was only a 10K (6.2 miles). Pressing onward, in 2019, he successfully completed his first half marathon.

In 2021, inspired by a friend in training for the Erie Marathon, Badaracco began his own training program with his goal to finish: on September 12, 2021. “I finished with a time of 3:22:45; not good enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but I finished,” he beamed.

Badaracco spent the next nine months maintaining and improving his health and his run efficiency. Throughout the year, he trained and competed with coaches and elite runners in the community. He became a more educated and experienced athlete, now belonging to multiple run clubs, such as the Erie Runners Club, the Flagship City Track Club, and the Achilles Run Club.

The determined runner began a training block three months before the Erie Marathon. He trained very diligently nearly every day and through the summer heat, spending countless hours on the track on the Penn State Behrend campus.