Watching him sprint shirtless around the East Sixth Street track on any given Tuesday, one could easily mistake Mark Mascolini for a footloose runner in his late thirties. (One with abs that a gymmed-out twenty-year old would die for.) For those Front Runners with briefer club histories, Mark might even appear to be a new face on the scene. In truth, Mark was one of the select few who was at both the first Pride Run in 1982 (where he volunteered) as well as at the 25th anniversary race last month (37:26, to place 5th in his age group.)
Mark's memory of Pride and of being gay in New York stretches back into the mid-1970s when he lived in a $200-a-month studio on the Upper West Side, not far from Lincoln Center. That detail is only of note because Mark moved to the area barely out of the closet, but those "swishy boys who loved the opera" soon escorted him out into the light of day. A benefactor of the Frank Shorter running craze of the 80s, Mark soon jettisoned his three-pack-a-day cigarette habit for a pair of cadet-blue running shorts and a Front Runners New York membership. He claims the club transformed his life for the first time (yes, there is a second time, but let's shelve that for now) when, on a long run up to the George Washington Bridge, fellow member Bill McGlinn took a shine to him. The romance has been astride for almost as long as our Pride Run; they will be partners (or lovers as Mark prefers to call it) for 24 years this August. So in love were they that they crossed the finish line of the 1984 race together. "Bill was always faster than I but never trained as hard," says Mark. "I wanted to sprint at the end; he didn't -- Jeez." They stayed stride by stride in other facets of life, and when business called Bill to Pennsylvania in 1989, Mark packed up and put his FRNY singlet in storage.
At least for a while. Running the Pride Race again in 2003 whetted Mark's competitive juices, and it wasn't long before he rediscovered the club and FRNY transformed his life for the second time (as promised above.) "When I rejoined the club three years ago," he says, "the beautiful boys and girls now populating the membership rolls -- and even the old coots my own age -- made me feel young all over again." Mark became a part-time New Yorker with an apartment sublet so that he could train with the team twice a week. As a freelance writer who has covered AIDS since the epidemic was as yet unnamed, Mark has the luxury of working where the roads -- or his workouts -- take him.
His determination and spirit quickly paid off at the races. In the fall of 2005, he ran Grete's Great Gallop Half Marathon at 7:16 pace to qualify -- strictly on time -- for the NYC marathon, which he hopes to run in fall 2006. His enthusiasm has proven osmotic as he has a fully committed team of FRNY "Veterans" competing fiercely in the points races this year. The club's Vets are perched for a top five finish as a result of efforts by Mark, Steve Vizena, Bob Dally, Dave Pitches, Scott Emmons, and others.
And what keeps Mark going? His lover Bill imbues all his aspirations and life goals, but Front Runners helps as well. Running a stretch of the Blue Line Run this past October with club president Kelsey Louie and Peter McGrane springs to Mark's mind as a recent highlight of note -- and, of course, there's those pesky 50+ lads from Taconic Track Club and Brooklyn Running Club to keep one spry. And, of course, straining to hold back the hand of that darned race clock.
