Movement is medicine, and 71-year-old Larry Grogin is the perfect example of that as he makes his way toward Durango.
Grogin is heading from New Jersey to Los Angeles and is going through Durango. He’s not going through Durango on vacation, but on a mission. The retired chiropractor is using his background as an elite endurance athlete to attempt to run 100 marathons in 100 days to raise awareness and funding for Parkinson’s disease, something he was diagnosed with in 2019. Grogin hopes to inspire others that movement, not medication, is medicine for Parkinson’s.
He has been running across the country since March 24, and Grogin will run a marathon in Durango on Tuesday and Wednesday. On both days, he’ll start at Memorial Park and go to Home Depot and back three times for his 26.2 miles.
“It’s about my twin 36-year-old sons; wanting them to believe that anything is possible,” Grogin said. “Dream big and to do what you want to do … it’s to inspire and motivate people who have Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases, or even people who are perfectly healthy, to be a primary catalyst in their healing.”
Grogin’s story of perseverance and grit goes back to his youth. He played baseball growing up, but he described himself as a mediocre to average athlete back in the day. Once he became an adult, Grogin realized his determination and grit could be used in endurance sports. He became an elite triathlete, and he has completed 30 Iron Mans, 300 marathons, along with plenty of ultra marathons.
It wasn’t the competition days that Grogin enjoyed the most. It was the training. He enjoyed training with friends in beautiful places.
The idea of running cross country first popped into Grogin’s head in 2019, before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Then, three months before he was going to start his cross-country trek, Grogin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, the progressive neurological disorder that leads to tremors, stiffness, slowing movement and balance issues that has no cure.
After Grogin’s twins were concerned about him doing the cross-country run with his diagnosis, he rearranged his run to be eight weeks of five days at a time. He ran 32 miles a day, but would fly back home and work for 1.5 days before running his 32 miles in places like San Francisco, Atlanta and Cape Cod. After Parkinson’s stopped his first cross-country attempt, Grogin felt like he had unfinished business.
He started his unfinished business in March with a send-off in New Jersey. Although it took about five or six months to plan his route, especially since Grogin isn’t doing 26 miles a day directly from New Jersey to California. He has picked certain routes that’ll accomplish his goal, and then he might start his next 26 in a different place.
The goal was to do a marathon every day and 72 days in, he’s done it without missing a day. Grogin has done two of his marathons on treadmills because of tornado watches in Missouri, but other than that, he’s been blessed with good weather.
“You know the expression, ‘Man plans and God laughs,”’ Grogin said. “We had all kinds of routes picked out, and what we realized is that we’d be in isolated places so much. So rather than do it end-to-end … we're picking interesting, pretty and scenic places. A lot of rails to trails.”
Not running 26 miles directly coast-to-coast gives Grogin and his team a lot of flexibility. But running 100 marathons in 100 days has given Grogin a lot of press, which helps him achieve his goal of raising $250,000 for the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s. As of Saturday, Grogin has raised $160,000.
Grogin has felt the support on the road, with people cheering him on from passing cars. It makes the journey an even more beautiful experience, especially with Grogin starting every day at 5 a.m. with a three-hour warmup on the treadmill before heading out onto the road. Honda of Mahwah, New Jersey, donated a support car to Grogin.
“The warming up is uncharted territory for learning how to relax the otherwise stubborn muscles that a Parkinson's patient has,” Grogin said. “If you looked at me running in the morning each day, I look like a cripple. You look at me seven or eight hours later, and I look like a pretty good runner … We know that drugs and surgery are not really effective in dealing with Parkinson's … Exercise is the most important thing.”
Despite all the mileage, Grogin said he feels great. There is a lot of conditioning that occurs during the event. He goes at a slow pace, but his body operates pretty normally.
Grogin’s cross-country quest doesn’t mean he doesn’t have tough moments with his Parkinson’s. He said there are days where it feels hopeless and some days it takes him 10 minutes to put on his socks. But with his run, Grogin gets power from knowing he’s helping other people. It’s important for him to keep going because people don’t die from Parkinson’s; they die with it.
Durango has been on Grogin’s list of places he’s dreamed of coming to visit. He’s been to Aspen, Boulder and Denver, but he thought this run was a perfect opportunity to visit Durango.
Grogin is encouraging people to come out for his marathons. There will also be a meet and greet event at Zia Taqueria on Wednesday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to donate some gels and energy bars. Anyone interested in donating can donate here.
“I would love for somebody who observes what I’m doing to say, ‘If that old 71-year-old with Parkinson’s can run 100 marathons, I can do more than I’m doing. I can do what I dream about. I can realize my dreams,”’ Grogin said. “Parkinson’s is not a roadblock. It’s a challenge, maybe a speed bump, but not a brick wall.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
