Nathan Sexton is returning Sunday to the same starting line he toed a year ago when he ran his first half marathon to teach himself how to deal with prolonged pain amid a terminal cancer diagnosis.
This time, Sexton’s motivation is his 3-year-old son, Jack, who has grown accustomed to watching his father compete ever since the 30-year-old ran into the local spotlight before last year’s Chattanooga Marathon.
“He always says, ‘I want to race just like daddy,'” Sexton wrote in an email. “He watches everything I do, and I just want to show him that anything is possible if your heart is in the right place and your intentions are good.”
Sexton has outlasted the prognosis for his stage 4 glioblastoma, and he continues improving his running speed, almost two years after doctors discovered a mass in his brain and told him it carried an average life expectancy of 15 months.
The Signal Mountain husband, father and author is running so fast now he could compete for a top spot in Sunday’s Erlanger-sponsored race.