Bishop Thomas John Paprocki ran his 20th marathon on Oct. 20, completing the first-ever Springfield Marathon, in four hours, 24 minutes and 48 seconds.
Just before the race began Bishop Paprocki, wearing his LIFE Runners T-shirt and bib 272, prayed with a small group of fellow LIFE Runners. He then joined some 1,550 other individuals who were running in either the marathon (26.2 miles) or the accompanying half-marathon (13.1 miles) or 10K run (6.2 miles).
He had been scheduled to participate with a larger group of LIFE Runners in the Crazy Horse Marathon in Hill City, S.D., on Oct. 6, but that race was cancelled due to a serious early-season winter storm. Coincidentally, the Springfield Marathon was already scheduled, so Bishop Paprocki — who runs for charities — decided to run in that event instead because as he said before the race, "I still owe our generous supporters a marathon."
As usual, Bishop Paprocki asked for supporters to donate money to several good causes. He had $12,282.60 in pledges, said Shaun Riedell, director of Stewardship. "The breakdown on restrictions is $3,189.14 to vocations, $926.12 to pro-life efforts and $8,167.34 to Catholic Charities Mobile Food Pantry," he said.
The Springfield race began at the campus of the University of Illinois at Springfield, headed out of the city limits and eventually ended up back at the UIS campus. Unlike at Hill City a few weeks before, the weather in the capital city was clear and cool with the starting temperature standing at 41 degrees and rising to about 62 degrees by afternoon. The wind, which picked up as the day went on, seemed to slow the runners a bit, said some volunteers at the finish line.
Although his time wasn't his personal fastest, Bishop Paprocki, after accepting congratulations from supporters on a job well done, smiled and said, "I'll take it." Like all the finishers he was awarded a marathon medal and then walked around the area to cool down.
Later he learned how he had fared against the other men and women who raced. "I placed second in my age group," said Bishop Paprocki, who turned 61 in August and ran in the 60-64 age bracket.
While running Bishop Paprocki, who is national chaplain for the LIFE Runners pro-life team, noticed some people cheering him along. "There were some people out at Villa Maria. I recognized Carlos Tejeda (director of Marriage and Family Life), his wife and (their young son) Juanito and some others were there.
"I also saw a group from Christ the King along the way. They were wearing Christ the King shirts so I was able to pick them out," he said. "I am grateful for everyone's prayers and support."