Tuesday, March 03, 2015

So long, Jeff Carroll

2006 San Diego Marathon. Jeff is the burly guy looking to camera. 

Ten years ago during my Team in Training running days, I met Jeff Carroll. Jeff was around my age, a painting contractor, college athlete—soccer, then he became a place kicker for some football team  here in California— married with teenage sons, and a big Notre Dame fan. His sister was also present on that San Gabriel Marathon Team, raising money to fight leukemia and lymphoma while training to finish 26.2 miles.

That fall, Jeff was putting in the miles for the Phoenix Marathon, while I was gearing up to run Honolulu. In spring, he'd already notched the LA Marathon and was a distance running veteran, with lots of sound advice for rookies like me. (Jeff taught me to carry plastic leaf bags on long runs as a poor man's raincoat, as well as a handy disposable warm-up jacket for races.)

He was a grounded guy, down-to-earth—families will do that for you. We shared long runs talking about home equity and our jobs and the aches and pains of middle age. Completing our races, we reupped for another round with TNT, signing up for the San Diego Marathon. I was determined to better my Honolulu time. Jeff advised me not to push it, but I knew better. I hurt my knee, recovered, then broke a bone in my foot. No marathon for me that year. 

I can't remember if Jeff signed up for the fall 2006 marathon team. (I did and trained for the 2007 Phoenix Marathon.) But he used to read this blog and would stop by every now and then with a remark or a word of congratulations when I set some pr. We eventually fell out of touch. 

Today I learned Jeff died from cancer.

While we were never super close, I can't help but feel diminished. Jeff was good guy, steady, loved by his family. I would have liked to see him stack up another decade or two, but that's the way things roll. No guarantees. Still, Jeff seemed to have wrung a great deal out of the years that he had.

So good-bye, teammate. May God welcome you into the Great Beyond where there's no such thing as  a sore IT band and the water stations serve beer and it doesn't hurt your time. 

Photo: Mark McQuaid

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for writing and sharing this. -Kiley

JP Mac said...

Least I could do.

I knew he was sick, but didn't know how bad.

God bless his family and give them strength in a tough time.

Virginia said...

Thank you for this very nice post, John. I miss you.

JP Mac said...

I miss you, too.

Jeff would always hang back with whoever seemed to be having the most trouble in his pace group. He was really like another coach out there. Great guy.

I follow the exploits of yourself and Van and the Team on FB.

Give him my best.

Anonymous said...

John McCann, Thank You for your kind words about my Brother Jeff ! He was a strong competitor of sports and a fighter all the way until God called him home. He will be missed but never forgotten!!
Thank you again,
Rick Carroll-Mooresville NC

JP Mac said...

Rick,
Tough one, losing Jeff. He fought a long time and I was honored to know him. My prayers go out to the Carroll families.

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