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thedrifter
11-28-07, 06:32 AM
John Murphy of York runs Marathon for Marine Semper Fi Fund
York lawyer runs to benefit injured Marines
By Herb Perry
heperry@seacoastonline.com
November 28, 2007 6:00 AM

YORK, Maine — John Murphy had many reasons for running the Marine Corps Marathon last month, but chief among them was his concern for the challenges young, injured Marines face once they return to civilian life.

"How do you prepare yourself to be in a nightmare for the rest of your life?" the 64-year-old York lawyer asked as he sat in his living room Friday evening, displaying a photo of a Marine presenting a stiff salute, his right hand missing.

Murphy doesn't know the answer. But he wants to help, and running a marathon to raise funds for injured Marines was his way of trying.

Murphy is also indebted to the Marines, an organization that gave him direction when he was a rudderless youth. And being 40 pounds overweight when the idea of running the race struck him, in his mind, made the intense training for a marathon a compelling — and daunting — challenge.

Soft-spoken, articulate and thoughtful, Murphy sipped a martini as he talked about the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., a month ago today.

He holds fond memories of his Marine Corps days.


The year was 1961 and he had just finished high school.

"I was 18 going on 12," he said, describing the turmoil of living without focus in his native New York City. "I was scrambled eggs for sure."

But the Marine Corps took him in and let him know that it loved him.

"I was impressed with that," he said. "Talk about 'TLC' — 'tender loving care.' There was an 'L' and 'C ' — I don't know how 'tender' they were — but it was a balance of seriousness of purpose and loving care. ... I think the Marine Corps was a great anchor, a great stabilizer for me."

More recently, it was an epiphany he experienced returning by car from a Christmas feast in Montreal that prompted him to look at his future. He got behind the wheel and felt his shirt press heavily against the steering wheel. That's when he realized he was overweight.

"I began to think of my mortality," he said. "I said I had to do something different."


Otherwise, he feared he would fall into a "glide path — you drift off like a float in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and fade off ... a waste of the talents God gave (you)."

Murphy decided to run the Marine Corps marathon and to contribute to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.

"And that was a real privilege," he said, to run for "people who are not so lucky and are in a whole different category of personhood than I am. They have given what is absolutely impossible to imagine."

Murphy said he was overconfident at the start of his marathon training, which eventually consisted of running a 13.1-mile loop from the York Harbor Inn to Ogunquit and back.

But running back to the Inn one hot May day, insufficiently hydrated, Murphy suffered heat stroke. Everything turned monochrome gray, and he couldn't stand straight. It took him three hours to make the three-mile trip back to his car.

"I never came so close to being incapacitated," he said.


It was a lesson in humility.

The prospect of running a marathon suddenly filled him with trepidation, until he bought a book on how to run the race, "and after that (running) was a piece of cake," once he understood how to establish a "fusion of mind and body," he said.

The race was "wonderful," Murphy said. At the starting line in early morning, he aligned himself with the moon, the Washington Monument and the Pentagon and noticed the majesty of the city's buildings.

At home, wearing his "Semper Fi" shirt, remembering his training, the race and the organization for which he ran, Murphy said he was "very proud," adding,

"It's a good thing I have done."


If you are interested in contributing to the cause for which John Murphy ran the Marine Corps Marathon, please send your donation to Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, 825 College Blvd.—Suite 102, PMB 609, Oceanside, CA 92057 or www.Active.com/donate/teamsemperfi/jmurphy193.

Ellie