Runner prepares for first race since winning cancer fight
Inspiration is a powerful thing. It can move people to try something new or to reach for new goals.
In J.T. Humphreys’ case, it’s prompting him to hit the streets as he prepares to run 13.1 miles through El Paso on Feb. 17.
“I’ve done the half-marathon several times, and I’ve also paced the full marathon a couple of times,” Humphreys said.
ABC-7 has been reporting a number of stories leading up to the El Paso Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K on Feb. 17.
The band teacher at Eastwood Knolls School on the east side trains after work almost every day. He’s been running since he was 11, when his mother signed up his entire family for a triathlon. At the urging of his parents, he continued running cross-country and track in middle and high school.
“It’s something you can always improve on as an individual,” Humphreys said. “You’re not really so reliant on anybody else to make you better.”
Ironically, the band instructor doesn’t listen to music during the hours that he runs alone.
“I get to really clear my head, think about the day, think about the next day, and I really like that quiet time,” he said.
This year’s race is anything but routine. The 33-year-old had testicular cancer two years ago and underwent chemotherapy last year.
“I wasn’t able to run,” he said. “This whole past year, just getting over that, it was hard running. And it felt like it was starting from scratch.”
Humphreys told ABC-7 that his latest checkup a few weeks ago verified that he is cancer-free.
“I think at first I was expecting to, ‘Oh, I’m going to go through this treatment and I’m just going to snap out of it and everything will be back to normal,’ and when I realized that that doesn’t really happen, that was kind of hard,” he said.
Consider that his personal record for a marathon is 2:57:40, “Or something like that,” he said, not remembering the time down to the second. And, in the past, he’s finished a half-marathon in 1:25. Now, he’s just looking forward to running the race.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get a PR (Personal Record) again,” he said, adding, “But I do want to always try to improve, and at least prove to myself thatm even though I may not be as fast as I used to be, I can still get faster every day. And I can still run every day and feel like I accomplished something.”
There’s still time to sign up to participate, whether in the full 26.2 mile run or the 3-mile 5K.
And you can win free registration through ABC-7 and kvia.com.
The last day to enter the contest is Feb. 13.
