AIDS doesn’t slow down San Diego marathoner

In 1995, San Diego’s Bill Aaron was diagnosed with AIDS.

The disease attacked his brain and his ability to walk. With an affinity for drinking and a two-packs-a-day smoking habit, the outlook for Aaron was not good.

On Sunday, he’ll take the starting line for his 12^th Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

“I started out (running) 14 years ago as a response to AIDS,” Aaron said. “I didn’t walk for a year. I did my first marathon and it changed my life.”

Related Links: Marathon guide | Bands to watch | Salazar suggestions

Now 53, Aaron has long outlived the diagnosis that said he wouldn’t make it past 40, much last walk (or run) again. A self-proclaimed slacker in his youth, running hasn’t just become an element of his life post-diagnosis. It’s become a driving force — a central focus of his day-to-day existence.

Now he’s the track and cross country coach at Kearny High School, the ombudsman for the San Diego Track Club and has taught a half-marathon course at San Diego State.

As crazy as it sounds, Aaron’s quality of life has improved since his AIDS diagnosis. He since quit smoking and earned the exercise science degree that allows him to coach.

Shortly after the diagnosis, Aaron’s body crumbled. He dropped from 160 pounds to 95 pounds. Lesions on his brain convinced doctors to send him home with a cane and a wheelchair.

“At one point they told my partner, ‘Get him a wheelchair,’” Aaron said. “That wheelchair was brought into the house and it was gone in 12 hours.  I had this instinctual feeling that if I ever got in that chair, I would never get out of it.”

Determined to walk, Aaron took on an exercise regimen and solicited the help of an exercise counselor named Joe League. After three months of conditioning didn’t get him back on his feet, Aaron said League literally gave him a push in the back to move things along.

In a training method that can best be described as unconventional, League gave a shove to Aaron from behind while he was standing up. When Aaron stumbled a few steps forward but maintained his balance, he learned how to run before he could walk.

As Aaron describes it, running is just the repeated process of keeping yourself from falling down, a less deliberate and more easily mastered movement than picking up your feet and walking forward.  That lesson was enough to get him started on a running regimen.

“Two days later, I borrowed my partner’s running shoes and went for a little run,” Aaron said. “It changed my life.”

Back in considerably better health and spirits three years later and under the tutelage of SDTC coach Paul Greer,  Aaron took on the inaugural 1998 Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. He hasn’t missed one since.

Last year almost broke his streak. While going on what he describes as a nonchalant eight-mile jaunt, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. A hospital visit and some diagnostic testing showed a spontaneous pneumothorax - a partially collapsed lung.

This doctor told him the same thing his first doctor did when he started talking about marathon running. Don’t do it. The stress of a marathon would lead to a one-third chance of a repeat of the collapsed lung.

And like Aaron’s response to his first doctor, he ignored the advice. Aaron places a high value on quality of life and is willing to take what he describes as a calculated risk.

“The doctor said there was a one-third chance of it happening again,” Aaron said. “That means there’s a two-thirds chance of it not happening again. I like those odds.”

On Tuesday, Aaron watched on at the final pre-marathon SDTC training session as hundreds of dedicated runners concluded their 21-week prep course and pep rally to get ready for Sunday’s grueling session.

There was a buzz in the air among the runners, many of whom smiled or shared encouraging words with Aaron.

Sharon Gables and Kristen Scanlon, both of whom took Aaron’s half-marathon class as freshmen at SDSU four years ago, made sure to catch up with him after the final run.

“He’s the most amazing and inspirational coach,” Gables said.

He makes for a pretty compelling story. Check back in here after the race on Sunday to see how his latest chapter plays out.

Jason Owens is the SDNN sports editor.

Tags: SDNN

This entry was posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 12:47 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.