Member of the Month: Mary Trotto!

There is only one Mary Trotto and we are very lucky to have her in our club and in our lives. She is an extraordinarily active person, is always a joy to be around, and is a terrific source of information. This month we are paying tribute to Mary and her contributions to the running community. Along the way to becoming an accomplished runner, Mary has achieved many things. She is also competitive in other sports, is a doctor, a therapist, a teacher and a collegiate chairperson. How she accomplished this becomes clearer as one becomes aware of how important exercise and sports have always been to her.

Mary was born in Manhattan, but grew up in Queens. She attended John Adams High School and was unable to participate in any sports since (at the time) there were no interscholastic teams for girls. "Article 9" changed that situation, but not before Mary had graduated and begun coursework at Hunter College, in Manhattan.

At last, in college, Mary could focus on what was important. As she worked toward a degree and teacher certification in the Department of Health and Physical Education, Mary participated on three different school teams. First, she was a member of the synchronized swimming team, which trained and competed year-round. Secondly, Mary played on the basketball team as a defensive guard. (Interestingly, at that time players were not allowed to cross the line at center court, and even worse the uniforms were woolen tunics, sportswear that did not withstand the test of time!) And thirdly, Mary was as a member of the field hockey team at Hunter, and as the right wing did quite a bit of running while practicing at Sheep Meadow in Central Park.

Participation was not enough, however, and Mary concentrated (as she still does today) on improving herself through anaerobic exercises, weight training, and experimentation with new technologies. She knew people thought her practices were bizarre, but she persisted. In retrospect, sports medicine, training and therapy have come a long way, and only now can we appreciate how advanced Mary was, and how grateful we should be to her for contributions to the field.

After graduating Hunter, Mary applied and was accepted to a work/study program at Colombia University, where in just over a year she earned her masters degree in Physical Education. She wanted to teach, but was unhappy with the teaching situation in the city, where classes often consisted of 120 students or more. So, Mary moved to Long Island and began teaching at Sachem's Merrimac Elementary School, where she met her close friend Pat Satenstein.

In three years time Mary married and left Long Island for West Virginia. Unfortunately the open teaching positions she found were too far away to be feasible, so Mary began to work on a doctorate at West Virginia University. At W.V.U. she began to run with some of the other graduate students. She was so enthusiastic about running that when a charity organization held a 25-mile walk she decided she would run the whole course! And she did, in a pair of Converse tennis sneakers no less!

As it happens, West Virginia is a very hilly state, and one day Mary's car died in its struggles. Fortunately she had a bicycle, and for the next six months she used the bike to go everywhere. She biked through snow and rain; before long she was in the best shape of her life. She was just finishing her coursework as Pat and her husband Jay were having their first child, David. Mary moved back to Long Island and provided childcare for David as she wrote her doctoral dissertation on blood clotting factors in long distance runners.

In 1978 Mary began teaching at Hofstra University. It was in that same year that she did her first New York City Marathon. Mary was one of the original River Road Rats (a Sunday morning running group), and trained well with them. In 1982, thanks to the people who inspired her to push the limits of speed and endurance, Mary ran her PR at the Jersey Shore Marathon, crossing the finish line in 3:26!

Mary has always dedicated herself to participating in events at every level. She is a sprinter and an ultra-marathoner. She is a biathlete, a triathlete, and is currently in training for the Pentathlon. She is also one of the few people who have raced to the top of the Empire State Building! Mary has run in this event four times and says that it is like running the hardest 5K of one's life.

In order to qualify her for her first race up the Empire State Building, Mary had to run an ultra-marathon, and chose a local 12-hour race. In the 11 hours she ran (it rained for an hour, so she waited out the storm in her tent) she covered 59½ miles! However, that may not be the most insane endurance event she will ever do. This year Mary sent in an application for a ½ Ironman (or a Tinman) being held in Hawaii, hoping she will be accepted and finish well enough for her to qualify her for the Hawaiian Ironman.

Most runners have had the experience of training for an event and not had everything work out just right. Three years ago, Mary was preparing for the World Games in Buffalo, NY. As fate would have it, three days before the meet she stepped in a hole and broke the bottom of her fibulae. Instead of throwing in the towel Mary went anyway! The fibulae is not being a weight bearing bone, so she taped her ankle extremely well, ran the 800-meters and finished. Happily, she did not do any permanent damage.

Professionally, Mary has her hands full as Chairperson of the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Movement Science at C.W. Post, where she has been teaching since 1980. This past year she was awarded the Newton Award for Teaching Excellence. This is a great honor since only three faculty members from the entire university are selected each year. Mary has a license to practice Physical Therapy in New York and Hawaii, and is currently working with runners on P.T. programs. Eventually she would like to work with young children in Hawaii.

Many people associate Mary with the Christmas season, particularly with her Christmas cookies. This tradition began with a couple of cookie trays one holiday season, and blossomed into a major production she single handedly manages every year. Mary has the two weeks before Christmas set aside simply for baking. This year she will be turning out 65 trays of her famous cookies (yum!). So as we enter another season of giving, let use congratulate and give thanks to Mary Trotto, who has given so much to the athletic and scholastic communities, as well as to the running club she has belonged to for many years.