Mark Nojiri:
CLASS OF 1967
Gahanna Lincoln High SchoolClass of 1967
Gahanna, OH
Mark's Story
If anyone remembers me as that skinny kid who could not do anything, today, April 16, 2018, I was able to plank for 35 minutes, a new record for me. More news later on what I have been doing. For those who do not know, I have survived cancer twice, prostate, and of the spine.
While probably nobody knows, with the exception of a few close friends, from Sept 3, 2018, until Sept. 14, 2018, we went to Cebu, Philippines to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Ohio wedding. Hopefully, next year, in August, we will be able to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Cebu wedding. Yes, we have been married twice.
Look at my profile after October 21st, I will be running in the Columbus Marathon on that date, a distance of 26 miles. Will let you know how I did.
Started off the new year, 2019, on January 2nd by running for six miles, in about one hour and 16 minutes.
On Feb. 8, 2019, amidst the snowy morning, I ran for 12 miles, with a final time of 2 hours and 34 minutes. One thing, for those who read my profile, to me, you are my fans and you are one of the reasons why I keep running, preparing for the marathon this year and I do thank all of you.
The weekend of March 1, through 3, 2019 was a truly awesome weekend. For starters, on Friday, I ran for 13.26 miles, with a final time of two hours and 52 minutes. On Saturday, at the Snow Trails Ski resort, while skiing, I was able to do, during one trip down the slope, three clockwise circles and three counterclockwise circles. In other words, after doing three clockwise circles, transition to doing three counterclockwise circles. Then I went to my snowboard and again, did three clockwise circles, then transition to three counterclockwise circles, then back to two clockwise circles. On Sunday, I did the same thing, although I did fall once.
My “high” from the previous weekend sort of carried into the following weekend of March 8, through March 10, 2019 which, again, was a truly awesome weekend. For starters, on Friday, I ran for 16.5 miles, with a final time of three hours and 40 minutes. On Saturday, at the Snow Trails Ski resort, while skiing, I was able to do, during one trip down the slope, three clockwise circles and three counterclockwise circles. In other words, after doing three clockwise circles, transition to doing three counterclockwise circles. Then I went to my snowboard and again, did three clockwise circles, then transition to three counterclockwise circles, then back to three clockwise circles. I did fall once while skiing. Now, Saturday night, it did rain and, on Sunday, the slope was pretty icy, but I did the pretty much the same thing.
I apologize for not adding to my profile recently, but on March 28, 2019, I did something stupid and pinched a nerve in my lower back. For a week, I stayed at home and felt sorry for myself. Then, finally, I went to an exercise class, as well as see a chiropractor, and now I am feeling much better. I am slowly walking again and look forward to when I can run again, maybe sooner than you think!
On May 2, 2019, I shall participate in the second 5K race since I threw out my back and affected my left leg. However, this time, hopefully, I might be able to run again. However, it might be a little difficult, getting back into running again. The good news is, as each day goes, walking, and a little bit of running, are slowly coming back to me.
From May 5th to May 10th, 2019, I traveled to San Diego, California to attend a reunion of my ship the USS Midway and was pleasantly surprised when members found out when I was stationed on her and asked me about Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Vietnam and when the USS Midway had a collision with the merchant vessel Cactus in 1980. Before I even left the reunion, I developed a stronger sense of pride in myself than I had before the trip, I was proud of my Naval service before the reunion, and now my pride is even stronger.
For the first time since I pinched the nerve in my back and left the nerve in my left leg so painful I could hardly walk, today, May 22, 2019, I ran for 9.03 miles for the first time. For me, the time was a disaster, two hours and 11 minutes, but, for the moment, I am content. I will work on improving times later.
On August 9, 2019, I ran for nine miles and finished with a time of one hour and 53 minutes, the first time to finish in under two hours in a long time. Then, on August 12, 2019, I ran again for nine miles with a final time of one hour and 59 minutes. I am hoping to be able to keep my nine mile times in under two hours, at least until after the Columbus Marathon.
On Friday, Sept 6, 2019, I ran for about 21 miles. What happened was my stopwatch stopped at 19-3/4 miles. My final time was 4:55, five minutes short of five hours. I plan to run 20+ miles possibly twice before the...Expand for more
marathon, to see if I can average a certain time, for each mile, to minimize the amount of time I have to walk to complete the 26.2 mile run.
Today, October 11, 2019, I ran for 12 miles, the last day for my training for the Columbus Marathon. I will run for six miles next Wednesday, then comes the big day, October 20th. The race starts at 7:30am, but I will not get to the starting gate until probably about 8:00am. If, by some small chance, anyone wants to follow my progress, on your mobile device, go to "Real Time Runner Tracking" and type in my name, and you can follow me, both know where I am in the course, as well as my speed in minutes per mile. I will probably average about a 14 minute mile at first.
For anyone who has been watching my profile, I regret to inform you that, on October 20th, the 40th Columbus Marathon, after running for about 14 miles, not only did I apparently get lost, but I became too tired to continue and stopped and sat down. To make a long, painful story real short, I was able to walk a couple of blocks and rejoin the marathon race at mile 24, and continued the race. Now, I am getting stubborn. I plan to run this marathon again next year, or maybe the next. I WILL complete a Columbus Marathon, one of these years!
The week of, actually Nov. 20th until, well, today, Nov 25th, was pretty good to me. On Wednesday, after running for seven miles, I was able to do eight US Army knee tucks, which is like doing pull-ups, then I was able to plank for five minutes. Saturday and Sunday, I spent about four hours skiing and snowboarding at Snow Trails and, by the way, as I turned 70 years this year, I now qualify, and purchased a senior citizen season pass for $199. On Monday, Nov 25th, I was able to, once again, plank for five minutes and did 30 US Army push-ups.
Something I have found out in this past year is that, I might be 70 years old and have survived cancer twice, but I am better shape than some of these kids joining the US Army and US Navy. Yesterday, Wednesday, December 11, 2019, I was able to do 41 US Army push-ups, 12 US Army knee-tucks, and plank for six minutes. Some of the young kids in both branches cannot do nearly as well as I did yesterday, and I am striving to do ever better, next year!
On January 4, 2020, as we were returning to Ohio from a marvelous three-week vacation to the Philippines, I caught a slight case of pneumonia in my left lung. Anyway, on Monday, January 13, 2020, at the DSCC Fitness Center, as I slowly recover, I was able to plank for five minutes and 20 seconds, do 35 US Army pushups, do seven knee-tucks, and be able to run about almost a half mile without coughing. I shall work to do even better than those, within the coming weeks and months!
Not to bore everybody, but two years ago, I sent an unofficial world record, for a 69 year old, of planking for 40 minutes. Today, February 14, 2020, I planked for 20 minutes, slowly working towards my goal of 40+ minutes of planking. Yes, I am working on my push-ups and knee-tucks.
While I might be a retired US Navy man, I am working on passing the US Army, yes, that is correct, the new US Army PT test. There are those, in the US Army, who cannot.
During this virus crisis, since we all have to stay at home, I have worked out a one-hour exercise routine and do it just about every day. It is my hope, and goal that, when my fitness center opens again, I will be just as fit as I was the day it closed.
After attempting to break my record of planking for 40 minutes for my 70th birthday with an attempt at 41 minutes on my 71st birthday, with a miserable time of only seven minutes, I have decided to work on doing a proper plank, using only my elbows instead of both my elbows and my hands and, as of today, May 11, 2020, planked for 18 minutes.
Here it is, March 22, 2021 and I realize I have not said anything for almost a year! What I have been doing is, on March 4, 2021, a few weeks after my first vaccine for the covid-19 virus, I planked for 56 minutes, a new record, for the moment and, today, I did 50 US Army hand-release pushups. Look it up on you-tube, they are more difficult that what we are used to. The day after my second covid-19 vaccine, I planked for 22 minutes. The thing about planking is I can really never predict how well I will do from one day to the next. One day I can plank for 50+ minutes, and the next day I plank, maybe only 20 minutes. I plank twice a week.
On August 2, 2021, I planked for an unofficial time of 1:00.12.13, meaning about 12 seconds over one hour. Also on July 21, 2021, I did 61 US Army hand-release pushups in about 2:30.
Today, Monday, December 20, 2021, this morning I was able, for the third time, plank for over one hour, or, 1:03, then, about 20 minutes later, did 101 hand-release pushups in a little over five minutes.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Photos
