John Marino

John Marino has been committed to fitness and athletics his entire life. He is a Chicago native, now residing in Santa Monica, CA. John attended Northern Illinois University during Coach Jerry Kills’ tenure. Medical obstacles were never an issue for him until he experienced his first tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizure at 19 years old. His second tonic-clonic seizure took place two years later at the age of 21.

John decided to take on running as his primary athletic endeavor in his twenties. To date, he has completed 12 marathons, 1 Ironman and 2 half Ironman races while experiencing focal onset seizures. He has remained free of tonic-clonic seizures.

In 2018, John summited Mount Kilimanjaro and completed 68 miles through a hike/run for charity. John’s life changed in January 2019, when his focal onset seizures did not subside at the beginning of this 49-mile endurance challenge. He started having an aura, which caused him to fall and John suffered his third tonic-clonic seizure during this run. Over the next several months, he underwent extensive medical treatment — testing, extended hospital stays, MRIs, CAT scans, EKGs, 96-hour EEGs, and PET scans. He was finally cleared for his first run. His distance of choice for this run was 4 miles and his ending spot would be the same location where he experienced his most recent tonic-clonic seizure.

2019 was his first year of truly treating his epilepsy directed by a neurologist, as he was in denial and embarrassed for years about his seizure disorder. John now considers his epilepsy to be one of his greatest assets. His goals are to raise money and awareness all over the world. Although he may never be able to attempt unsupervised surfing or an open-water triathlon, he wants to show we can still live our best lives!