Running with a melody

Eastern music department chair trains for the Napa Valley Marathon

By: Nicole Nicolas/ Features Reporter

Posted: 12/8/04

The closer it gets to a marathon, Roger Stoner lays awake at night counting each heart beat, making sure he is prepared for the race.

He counts 50 heart beats per minute, right on track.

He trained four months for the Napa Valley Marathon this past March. To prepare for the race, he ran a total of 700 to 800 miles on the indoor track and on treadmills at Eastern's recreation center.

Three weeks before the race, one slippery patch of ice sent Eastern's chair of the music department falling to the ground to hit his shoulder on the edge of the step, causing his shoulder to break.

Shere Stoner, his wife, said he became discouraged and went from running 60 miles a week to nothing.

Four months later, he's back from therapy and ready to start preparing for the Columbus Marathon in October in Ohio.

Two weeks before the October race, Stoner hurt his knee while running which prevented him from competing in the marathon. He said he started running too long and too much too early. Stoner built up his cardiovascular system while swimming, so his heart was in good shape. But he hadn't run enough for his knees to be in as good shape as his heart, he said.

Now, once again, Stoner is working toward running in the Napa Valley Marathon, the race he could not run before because of his injured shoulder.

"That's the musician in him, because he has the self motivation to run," Shere Stoner said.

Stoner's value of life changed drastically when his sister's kidney started to fail for the second time, Shere Stoner said.

"(His sister) has been living on borrowed time," Shere Stoner said

Roger Stoner has the same resilience inside of him that has kept his sister fighting for her life, Shere Stoner said.

"The word 'defeat' just isn't in his vocabulary," Shere Stoner said.

All his workouts and his eating habits come down to two moments: running in the Napa Valley Marathon and qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

A new day for a fresh start for training awaits.

On an autumn day, he stretches up against the plain white garage door of his house to warm up his muscles.

He quickly sets his watch, and he's off. Golden brown leaves fall down and cars speed by as Stoner runs on a trail that is exactly 26. 2 miles, a marathon's distance. He keeps an even pace shifting his shoulder, which is held together with screws and plates, and arms to propel his legs forward one step at a time on a right knee that's healing.

"3:45, we're in good shape," he said while setting his pace for his long run.

He occasionally glances at his watch to check if he has reached nine minutes, which is the time where he stops running to walk for a minute. This keeps the muscles from breaking down and does not affect his time at the end of the race, he said.

While running, time goes by quickly when he thinks about situations in which he can help a student with their college career, since he is a former trumpet teacher from the University of Kansas.

Stoner works from 7 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. to make sure the operation of the music department runs smoothly, and he also plans for music department's future.

After working his regular hours, he goes home for a short period of time and then returns to watch a recital at 7 or 7:30 p.m.

He works very hard and always puts his faculty and students before himself, said Anita Shelton, the chair of the history department.

Despite working long hours, Stoner still has time to run races anywhere from a 5K to marathons. Stoner and his friend Newton Key, an Eastern history professor, remember fondly a time when they ran a half of a marathon, the Turkey Run in Danville, a couple years back.

"He's very easy to talk to when we're running races that are a half of a marathon," Key said. "What I like about him is he's had an interesting life. He was a trumpeter with the U.S. Marine band (that) played in the White House lots of times."

Right on track, Stoner is now running a 12-mile run this weekend. With his determination, Stoner focuses on running to prepare for two moments: the Napa Valley Marathon and the Boston Marathon.

"A race is very similar to performing. You've done your preparation, and now it's time to relax and focus on the business matter ahead," Stoner said.