Mark Nojiri:
CLASS OF 1967
Gahanna Lincoln High SchoolClass of 1967
Gahanna, OH
Mark's Story
For most of my life, if you were taller than me, athletic, a good talker, for any other reason, “better” than me, I both admired and envied you. I joined the US Navy in 1972 and during my military career, I was involved in Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of South Vietnam, then, in 1991, was involved in Operation Desert Storm, the liberation of Kuwait. I retired from the Navy in 1992
Then, in 2008, just before I was to get married, my fiancé and I found out I had prostate cancer. In January 2011, I began a series of 45 sessions of external radiation. Near the end of it, my doctor informed me that the cancer was dead but he wanted to continue the sessions to make sure it stayed “good and dead”. All that changed on February 26, 2011. I was involved, at the Snow Trails Ski Resort in Mansfield, Ohio, a Chippendale Race, in which the only thing we wore was a skimpy swimsuit. There were sixteen of us, eight men and eight women, doing a slalom ski race. As I raced down the slope, in front of a cheering crowd, I began thinking that, here I was, retired from the United States Navy and a prostate cancer survivor and started crying. This was the first time I was actually really proud of myself and, for the first time in my life, I did not envy nor did I admire anyone except myself. Later that year, I participated in my first 5K race, and afterwards, as I was getting dressed after taking a shower, a young man asked me how I did. I told him and he reacted with something like a sarcastic “Yeh, right”. Then I told him that I was 62 years old and was a cancer survivor. He was shocked.
Since that time, I have participated in two marathons, although I ran for only about half of the marathon. In 2019, as I was preparing for my second marathon, I was running nine miles a day, and one day, as I was running my first three miles, I happened upon about a 20 person unit of US Army people running their two-mile run. A small part of their run was in the same route as my first three miles. About a half mile into my run, I happened to meet up with them as they started their run. No...Expand for more
w my course was longer than theirs, but when I was at about my 2-1/2 mile point, I saw that I was ahead of at least one runner and he was running only two miles! A few months later, I saw a young US Army man doing his mandatory pushups, the current way. He struggled to do 30 of them. A few minutes later, I did about 35 of the new way, which is more difficult, called the “Hand-release” pushup. Another time, I watched some US Navy kids doing their pushups, the ones where you go half way down, then back up. I was behind them. The instructor was facing me. They struggled to do about 30 pushups. I got down and did 35 of the new US Army way. Later, he complimented me on my pushups. I was wearing my US Navy t-shirt.
I am currently working to get even better. My goal, at the age of 71, right now, 2020, is to be able to plank for one hour and to be able to pass the 2020 US Army PT test, which is rougher than the current standards. This new test has been delayed due to this corona virus.
Something I have not mentioned at all, although anyone who has read my profile probably already knows that my wife and me are doing just fine during this pandemic. I have had both shots of this vaccine and, as of right now, April 4, 2021, am doing just fine. In fact, as I always catch at least two colds a year, last year, 2020, I never once caught a cold. Apparently all of the precautions we have taken, due to this pandemic, have worked and we have decided, even after this thing is history, we will probably continue doing them.
April 10, 2021 was, in a way, a record-setting day for me. While I planked for only 30 minutes, way below my goal, I was able to do 55 hand-release pushups, which is a new record for me and, by the way, gives me a 95% on the US Army fitness test.
The latest picture of me is my senior picture for high school and me a week before my 73rd birthday.
On May 17, 2022, I ran in my first 5K race, and first time for running in over a year, thanks to this pandemic, and I ran it in exactly 36 minutes, or an average of a 12 minute mile. Again, not bad for a 73 year old!
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