Running for their lives

Lindsay Sandham

Brian Baker’s life changed when he ran his first marathon in 2001.

The Newport Beach resident began to consider his mortality when he

turned 40 in 1999 and started running. As if by fate, around this

same time, he received an announcement in the mail from Train to End

Stroke, a program put on by the American Stroke Assn. to raise money

for stroke research, education and programs.

Baker lost his mother to a stroke in 1993, when she was 61, so he

decided to participate.

“It was really my mom I was doing that for,” Baker said of his

first marathon.

The program started in 2001 in Orange County, one of about 15

pilot sites in the United States. Today, there are more than 40 Train

to End Stroke sites nationally, said Jason Lustina, the Orange County

director for Train to End Stroke.

Baker ran his first marathon in Kona, Hawaii, where he met John

Sidebottom of Aliso Viejo. Sidebottom now coaches with him.

After completing the first season, Baker was so impressed with the

program, he decided to continue participating and eventually took on

coaching responsibilities.

Baker, along with wife Jill Baker and Sidebottom, dedicates every

Saturday to coaching others and helping them train to end stroke.

Of the 70 Orange County participants, a little more than 20 will

be running in the upcoming Kona Marathon on June 19, and the rest will be competing in the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon on June 5.

From those two marathons, the Orange County participants have

raised a combined $400,000 for the program.

“It’s amazing how generous people are,” Baker said.

He added that people are most afraid of the fundraising aspect,

which is actually the easiest part of the training.

Baker said what keeps him coming back, season after season, is the

satisfaction of seeing people accomplish something they never thought

possible.

“Race day is just amazing -- to watch people cross the finish

line,” he said. “Everyone on the team has some sort of personal

connection or story.”

Sidebottom said that through his coaching, he actually gets more

out of it than he puts in.

“It’s absolutely empowering; it really is,” Sidebottom said. “It’s

more emotional for me to see others complete a marathon I’ve helped

them train for than completing one myself.”

For more information on Train to End Stroke, call (888) 4-STROKE

or visit https://www.strokeassociation .org.