Wife’s death brings an end to Lewis’ streak
It’s been a difficult week for Larry Lewis.
The 52-year-old was one of a handful of athletes who had competed in all 10 Ironman Lake Placid events and was looking to continue his streak on Sunday. It was going to be a tribute to his wife, Kathleen, who in February was diagnosed with malignant primary brain tumors.
“My daughter told me, ‘Mom would want you to be there,’ ” Lewis said four weeks ago as he planned to participate in honor of her.
But Kathleen took a turn for the worse, went into critical condition and passed away this week.
The endurance race would have to wait.
“Kathleen clearly had another role for me to play this weekend,” Lewis wrote via e-mail.
The two had met in high school at Orchard Park where Larry played sports for the Quakers and graduated in 1975. They moved to Brooklyn for their careers and adult life, but never strayed far from their Buffalo roots.
While Lewis has around 24 triathlons to his credit and around 40 marathons with about a dozen 50-mile ultra marathons on his athletic resume, Kathleen was a constant source of support and inspiration.
“Kathleen herself is an accomplished distance walker,” Lewis said. “She did two Los Angeles marathons walking and she walked the New York City marathon course. She’s done some very, very long walks. I always said that I can go out and run but I don’t think I would walk for 40 miles. That was her thing.
“We met in high school in Orchard Park and I was always an athlete. . . . I was [an] athletic-minded person already and I always tempered my training where my family was not going to suffer.”
He had created another family of sorts, one that had a yearly reunion in Lake Placid.
It’s a place where everyone knows him and where this weekend, many hold him in their thoughts.
“It’s like a homecoming,” Lewis said. “You go there and run into people you only see once a year. It’s a chance to reconnect.”
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