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John A. Paone
Peachtree City, Georgia
51
Running Experience:
Advanced
Why should we pick you to go to the North Pole?:
I believe I will give you the best chance at winning the race, and even better the type of media coverage and exposure to help promote this race and extreme running and sports as a whole. I work weekly with young men and women using sports and challenge as a way to help them get through troubled times in their lives.
I would be a long shot underdog with a true chance at winning this race based on my experience and ability to work and compete in the most extreme environments. I speak/teach regularly at colleges, high schools, churches and other civic organizations on suicide prevention and working with young adults/teens going through tough times. I use extreme sports and music to challenge and motivate the toughest kids and young adults. I started and help host a live Rock Show on Saturday evenings in Atlanta Georgia on J93.3 a 100,000 watt fm station. The program is geared to reach teens and young adults. I have run in just about every condition imaginable, including through the streets of Mogadishu under extreme hostile fire. I have jumped out of numerous and assorted aircrafts to include a hot air balloon, competed in, and won the military pentathlon, won a state championship in wrestling, set records for push ups, both regular and one armed. Started the Polar Bear Club in Peachtree Ci
ty Georgia, and I've done a host of extreme and sometimes crazy events in my life, some out of necessity, and others out of a challenge and means to encourage and motivate kids at risk.
"Daily I would train and run in the elements with temperatures regularly below Zero in Korea. I have also trained in the other extreme, running 27 and Half miles nearly every day for a 4 month period in temperatures reaching 117 degrees fahrenheit while leading a team in Mogadishu, Somalia." |
Offer some evidence that you can complete a marathon in harsh, sub-zero conditions at the North Pole:
I'm a retired Army Officer and served with the Green Berets in the harshes of environments. While serving with the 1st Special Forces Unit in Washington State, and throughout Asia, I conducted training on a regular basis on Mt Ranier, in extreme sub-zero conditions as well as operations throughout Africa, the Middle-East and Asia. Additonally as a Special Forces team leader and SERE, (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape), instrutor I am very familiar with what it takes to dig down deep inside to continue when everything inside you is screaming to quit.
Raised in Cleveland Ohio right off of Lake Erie, I am familiar with minus 55 degree temperatures hitting you right in the face and the wind cutting you to the bone. Additionally being in charge of three border sites located on the mountain tops in the Korean DMZ gave me another chance to test myself against the elements. The winters on those mountain tops made my time in Cleveland seem like a cake walk. I know the North Pole Marathon will be 100 times more challenging then anything I have experienced to date. However if selected my current position in FedEx would allow for me to travel and train in the Mountains around Salt Lake City Utah, Anchorage Alaska, Canada, and of course I would have to do at least some running on the Lake Front in Cleveland Ohio. I have never not finished any race or challenge that has been put before me. Although you may find many folks faster then me, you will be hard pressed to find many with the will and stamina to complete a race like the North Pole Marathon. This race is not going to go to the swift, but to the one that is most prepared with the right amount of grit, will, desire, and just crazy enough to continue to put one foot in front of the other when the pain has become to much to bear. I'm currently running 5-10 miles daily and have the endurance needed to compete in this race. If selected I would immediately begin training in conditions and locations that would give me the best chance to be prepared for the race at the North Pole as well as serve a a great backdrop for the blog and website.
Tell us about your cold-weather race experience:
My experience is mostly military in nature and not races, however I have run a 75 mile Ultra marathon in Korean during the winter and completed the race. I have trained on the All Army Wrestling team at West Point in the dead of winter running 10-20 miles daily in the cold.
Daily I would train and run in the elements with temperatures regularly below Zero in Korea.
I have also trained in the other extreme, running 27 and Half miles nearly every day for a 4 month period in temperatures reaching 117 degrees fahrenheit while leading a team in Mogadishu, Somalia. The runs consisted of a 11 mile run in the morning a 5 and Half mile run at mid day and another 11 miles in the evening.
Tell us about your marathon experience, including times, results, etc.:
Seoul City Marathon, Seoul Korea, Time 2 Hours 58 minutes.
Mule Mountain Marathon, Bisbee Az, 3 hours 15 minutes.
Oahu perimeter team run, 118 miles, I ran legs totaling 34 miles averaging 6:02 per mile. Our team finished 2nd.
Schofield Barracks Ultra Marathon, (57 miles), I ran 22 miles of the run for our team averaging 5:55 per mile and we finished first.
Pusan to Taejon road race 89 mile team run. I ran 14 miles for our team averaging 5:40 per mile and our team took first place.
I have won or placed in the top 5 of numerous 10k road races in the military.
I am not nearly as fast as I use to be, but my endurance and will is as strong as ever and I truly believe I can be competitive in this race. The worst the conditions the better my chances will be.
What do you expect your North Pole Marathon time to be?:
7 and half to 8 hours
Can you write well? Explain:
In my current position as the Senior Manager of Security for FedEx in the South, I am required to write and edit reports that go directly to our CEO and Chairman. I am very comfortable with expressing myself both orally and in writing. I know how to gear my text for the target audience, and how to keep their attention in order to get the desired information, and point across and understood.
Tell us about your media experience:
I believe this may be my strongest area. For the past 6 years I have worked very closely with J93.3 FM in Atlanta Georgia. J93.3 is a 100,000 watt FM station and covers all of Metro Atlanta, North Georgia, and Eastern Alabama, as well as streaming worldwide on the web. I have hosted a live rock radio show on J93.3 as well as been a guest on numerous other stations/shows. I have been the host for live concerts all over the Southeast to include hosting showcases with top Christain Artists during GMA week in Nashville. I have appeared live on TVU out of Columbus Ohio, and have recorded taped programs for several other networks. I regularly work with Media Relations for FedEx. Most importantly I work with numerous young men and women from around the country that know more about myspace and the internet then most of us could ever imagine. I have made these contacts through my visits to their campuses, and a 4 day music festival and extreme spo
rts event that my wife and I started 6 years ago. Two of my 4 daughters are teachers, and they along with their classrooms would become part of this effort as well.
Websites:
www.4nights.org
www.unight17.org
saradharperphotography.blogspot.com
Show us your video:
You can go on line and type in 4 Nights In October and probably get some good pictures and possibly some video.
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Sheila Paone says:
I know this man well;He's my dad. "Paone's never quit!" was my dad's motto for the family and he lives that motto like no one else I know. He is the most competitive and strong-willed man I have EVER known. He is also the most caring and cons
Chris David says:
This man is the most enduring, perservering man I have ever met in my life. I have worked side by side with him for 5 years now and he has never once failed to amaze me with his refusal to give up on ANYTHING. Time and time again he has proven that the impossible only exists for the weak minded. I have seen him go into impossible situations and come out successful. He has changed lives for the better, not by the hundreds, but by the thousands. He has impacted thousands of kids' and adults' lives. He is an icon and a role model in the town we live in.
He also has all kinds of fun/exciting stories from the military/special forces. He talks of his long runs. He talks of his survival training. He talks of his perseverance and some of the battles that he was in and that the only thing that kept him surviving and going was his mental refusal to give up.
The bottom line is that this man does not only have the physical ability and training to do this run, but more importantly, he has the will and mind to do it. I have never in my life met somebody who has a stronger will or mind than John Paone.
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