Start Line Stories: San Diego Runner Hopes 2024 Eugene Marathon is his Victory Lap over Cancer

Start Line Stories are back for 2024! We are so excited to connect you to a group of 2024 participants who will be toeing the start line in just three months. Each year, the Eugene Marathon draws in runners from all 50 states and multiple foreign countries. This year is no different, so for 2024 we will be going global and sharing the stories of people from across the world.

First up, we are staying pretty close to home with Brian from San Diego, California – which is exactly 975 miles south of the Eugene Marathon start line. Last October, Brian was in Eugene visiting his son Connor, who was starting his sophomore year at the University of Oregon. On a sunny afternoon, the father-son duo, who had just signed up to run the 2024 Eugene Marathon together, grabbed a quick selfie outside of Hayward Field on Agate Street. It was the weekend before he was set to begin his first radiation treatments for prostate cancer.  

The next time I’m back here, Brian thought: it will be in April, we’ll be on the start line for the Eugene Marathon, and the cancer will be behind me.

Read Brian’s full Start Line Story below:

Name: Brian Brokowski

Age: 52

Where are you from and where is home now? San Diego

How many marathons and/or half marathons have you completed and what was your first road race? 

I’ve completed 20 marathons and my first was the Rock & Roll Marathon in San Diego in 2010.

What inspired you to sign up for the 2024 Eugene Marathon?

Earlier this year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and my battle is ongoing. I had surgery earlier this year and am currently undergoing radiation treatment. While I have run 20 marathons, including Boston; Eugene 2024 will be my biggest and most rewarding accomplishment. Not only am I approaching my cancer treatment as part of my training, but my son Connor will be joining me at the starting line as he runs his first marathon. He’s a sophomore at the University of Oregon, so he’s training along with me even though he’s hundreds of miles away in Eugene. It will be his first marathon ever and my first marathon as a cancer survivor.

How is training going?

Training is going well. I finished radiation in mid-December. My energy levels were pretty down during treatment, but I was still able to get in light runs or walks. After treatment, I was able to pick it up and build back my energy. I’m hoping to be in really good shape by April and signing up for the race has given me a strong goal. Every day that I went into radiation, I pictured me and my son Connor at the starting line. I visited him in Eugene in October – the weekend before I started radiation treatment and I thought, in April we are gonna be right back here together.

Connor really wanted to do something to support me from afar, so he signed up for his first marathon and we are following a similar training program, even though we’re hundreds of miles away from each other.

What training program are you following?

The Matt Fitzgerald 80-20 approach. It helped me break 4 hours and get my BQ when I ran 3:17 at CIM, so I’m hoping it works again.

Do you have a goal or goals for Eugene 2024?

My main goal is to beat cancer and view the starting line as the start of the rest of my life as a cancer survivor. That’s my main goal, but at 15 weeks out, I’m feeling better now and I feel like it could be possible to get back to a BQ. Regardless of time, being at the starting line with Connor, running with him and being at the Eugene Marathon will be one of the most memorable marathons of my life. I’m taking an optimistic view that the 2024 Eugene Marathon will be my victory lap over cancer.

Why run? And why do marathons? 

Marathons are a metaphor for life. The strength and lessons that I learn from the journey: training hard, persistence, physical and mental strength; will benefit me through the rest of my life. Now, at this point in my life, running is literally helping me cure cancer. And I’m hoping that sharing my story will help to raise awareness for all men to get early screenings for prostate cancer.

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Thank you for sharing your story Brian! We will all be cheering you and Connor on on April 28 and we hope that the 2024 Eugene Marathon is your victory lap over cancer.