Teddy Greene had been running for about five hours, and was steps away from the finish line at the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. He was about to finish his first-ever marathon, an exhausting 26.2-mile journey that started Sunday morning, Oct. 11, with the temperature in the mid-30s.
Greene glanced to his left, and somehow among the thousands of cheering spectators, spotted his mom, Becky Bethel.
"I smiled so big," said Greene, 27, who lives in Chicago's Buena Park neighborhood.
His emotions took over.
"Thoughts went running through my head, [ including, ] 'I'm sorry, Mom, for contracting this virus; I promise not to get sick," Green said. "I don't even know how I let it happened to me, but I'm so glad she saw me cross because to both her and me, it proved I can beat it. I'm strong enough to fight anything. I'm powerful enough to do it again and again and again."
Greene ran in 2009 with the National AIDS Marathon Training Program, which benefited the AIDS Foundation of Chicago ( AFC ) a truly personal cause for Greene, who learned he was HIV-positive in 2007.
"When I started training for the 2009 Chicago Marathon, it was a time to wake up and change something," said Greene, a stylist who moved to Chicago about six years ago from Tallahassee, Fla.
"I found out that I was HIV-positive after trying to get over a bad case of strep throat. I didn't understand why I wasn't getting better with some antibiotics, and then a doctor tested me and told me the news. At first I didn't really know how it happened, my mind went through so many questions of why, how, when and why over and over. It was a really hard thing to grasp at first.
"I knew I wasn't going to win the fight [ against HIV and AIDS ] unless I was ready to better myself. [ The fight ] truly is about remembering who you are as a person."
Running was his outlet in 2009, his recovery, his motivation, his drive. He even gave up smoking to aid his cardio conditioning.
"At the end of the first run with the training program, I wasn't much of a runner but fell in love," he said. "It was a new experience for me and a great one at that. The first time we all met at the run site was the first time I had run outside longer than a mile.
"I found out about the AIDS marathon training program [ from ] a friend who had ran with [ that program ] in the past. I remember thinking he was crazy, why anyone would want to do something like that. But after watching him cross that finish line at the Half Marathon, I had that urge. I'm not sure of his reasons to this day to want to run and fully didn't understand until this past fall when I finished my race."
Greene registered to run last spring and spent about six months training for his one day of October glory. He was driven to get healthier, "to feel like I was going to be OK," he said. "I knew I wasn't going to let this disease pull me down; I know that this disease is one that can be managed."
Greene is now managing just fine with his second chance. He's motivated to run again in 2010 and will be supporting the Team To End AIDS ( T2 ) , the new endurance training program run by AFC.
Other runners will register with T2 just to aide the cause; Greene does it to help others like himself.
"The 2009 running season was, to say the least, life-changing fantastic," Greene said. "To this day, I still cannot stop running and will continue running for me and also for the AIDS Foundation.
"Finishing the marathon made me feel as though I can do anything, [ that ] living with HIV is manageable. Raising money [ for AFC ] is an easy, selfless act that helps change the world, which is something I want to do.
"I finished the [ Chicago Marathon ] in 5:03:22, and it was such a strong finish at that. I would probably say mile 18 was the hardest, but not enough to get me to stop. I was able to run through exhaustion and ignore my mind telling me to give up, something no one can really explain. Was it worth it? Yes. Am I going to do it again? Yes. Can I do anything even though I'm living with HIV? Yes."
Greene will appear on one of several T2 inspirational videos for 2010, "because I want to inspire," he said.
"Teddy's commitment to the cause both as someone living with the disease and fighting to end it is both courageous and admirable," said Richard Cordova, of Chicago, who has finished multiple marathons.