Warrior of the Week: SATURDAY SPOTLIGHT
Scott Mandia Age: 50
Status: Married to Kelly Mandia, two boys age 11 and 8
Occupation: Meteorology and climate change Professor at Suffolk County Community College (Selden)
Favorite hobby: Finding great craft beer to enjoy
“You look like a runner.” That was the typical comment I heard when I attended races and North Country Road Warriors’ (NCRW) club functions with my runner wife, Kelly Mandia, and people found out that I was not a runner. “That is why I don’t run. I’m already there so why do the work?” I replied with a big grin. That all changed three years ago.
My oldest son Shane ran the Long Island Adventure race in Spring 2013 and loved it. He asked my wife Kelly to run the August 2013 race but she was too worried about getting injured. Shane asked me to run but I told him I could not possibly run a 5k – not being a runner and all. What he didn’t know was that at that moment I decided I would secretly train so I could surprise him for his BD by telling him that “Daddy is going to do the mud run with you!” I went to Second Wind, bought a nice pair of running shoes, and ran my first mile. At the end I wanted to puke. “How the hell do people LIKE this?”, I thought. Well, my ego was calling me to see if I could run even faster and longer and I did have a 5k to get ready for. I did not want my 8 year old to blow me away. So I laced up, went back out, and never looked back. (BTW, I am not going to tell you that I ran too far, too fast, and blew out my knees about three weeks later. That is our little secret.)
Honestly, I secretly wanted to be a runner for two other reasons. As a group, I found runners to be the nicest, most generous people I have ever met and I wanted to be part of that scene. But most importantly, running was a serious hobby for my wife and I wanted to share that with her. She was never into golf so I invaded her sport.