Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009

A penguin becomes a gazelle

John Bingham's life changed the day he passed a store window and caught sight of a chubby little man in a white shirt and black shorts, waddling down the street. He looked around and didn't see that man anywhere.

"Then it hit me. That man was me," he said. "I didn't even recognize myself, and I realized what I am, and that is a penguin."

The Penguin was born.

Bingham, 61, who lives in Chicago, was a musician and college professor in his younger days. Over the past decade, he has carved out a niche as a motivational speaker and journalist under the Penguin moniker.

He was on his way to the Victory Junction Half Marathon in Randleman, N.C., on Dec. 10, when he stopped in Raleigh to swap stories with members of the N.C. Roadrunners Club at the Glen Eden Community Center near Crabtree Valley Mall.

"I grew up in a culture of overeating," he said. "For my family, eating was an art form."

Bingham also smoked. He drank. He gained weight. He taught music at Middle Tennessee State University. He was a couch potato who loved riding his motorcycle.

Life was good. Until the day he went to be fitted for a tuxedo.

"At the tuxedo shop, they pulled out their measuring tape and measured my outer leg seam: 40 inches," he said. "They told me to relax my stomach, and measured that: 40 inches. I was a cube."

In an attempt to get fit, he bought an old 10-speed bike, but the toe clips on its pedals nearly did him in, and the bumps and bruises from constantly tipping over drove him to running.

"I had to find an exercise that was easier than trying to ride that bike," he said.

It took six months of training before he was able to run 3 miles. "I was so excited, I celebrated by smoking a cigarette," he said.

When he finally completed his first race and crossed a finish line for the first time, he felt like a runner.

Eighteen years later, he's fit and healthy. He has run 25 marathons and countless shorter distance races. After nearly 14 years, he's written his final 'No Need for Speed' column for Runner's World magazine ( www.runnersworld.com). He the author of three books.

He's everyman's runner, a self-proclaimed back-of-the-packer who is happy to just be out there, a pied piper of Penguins, happily taking his flock along on his adventures.

Leslie Looper, 45, of North Raleigh, struggled through her first marathon Oct. 3, a grueling 11-hour ordeal at the tough Vasque Triple Lakes Trail Race in Greensboro. She fell three times before she had even run six miles, and spent nearly as much time in the aid stations as she did running. But in a triumph of mind over matter, she managed to finish.

"John really resonated with me. He didn't mind talking about his struggles, and people weren't laughing at him, but laughing with him," she said.

At 67, Sally Squier, of Raleigh, was the oldest runner to complete the Lean Horse 100-Mile Ultra Marathon in the Black Hills of South Dakota last summer. She ran for 29 hours and 31 minutes.

"It was a tough one," she admitted. "It was in August and hot, 96 degrees."

Squier identified with the Penguin.

A self-proclaimed back-of-the-pack runner, she covers the miles because she loves it.

"The feeling I get when I cross the finish line is awesome. When you are out there running, you're so alive and in the moment," she said.

Squier, who is in charge of the aid stations at the annual Umstead Endurance Race, can recite a litany of running achievements. She has completed 21 ultra marathons of varying distances, including four 100-mile runs. She has also qualified for and run the Boston Marathon four times, in addition to 36 other regular marathons.

And she did not start running until she was 49 years old.

Looper, Squier, and approximately 40 other runners gathered to soak up Bingham's enthusiasm.

"They are individualists; they are happy; they run because they enjoy it," he said.

Looper is not giving up on running for enjoyment. She's hired a coach and hopes to try a marathon again someday. But for now, her goal is to stay positive and have fun.

"I am working on setting my goals for next year," she said. "It was nice to have John Bingham here to remind me to have fun along the way."