Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Bob Weiner has a passion for his job, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Imagine the stress of trying to help rape victims or families of homicides, knowing there’s a limit to the comfort you can bring them.
You can’t undo what happened to shatter their lives. You can only hope to bring some justice and closure.
“Rightly or wrongly, you put it on your shoulders,” Weiner said. “It’s your responsibility to make sure this is done right, to contact the victims and make sure we do everything we can, within the bounds of the law, to make sure there is some sense of justice.
“There’s no gloating when there’s convictions. Everyone in this office would just as soon not have to confront those things. It’s an unfortunate fact of life. There is no winning. People lose on both sides.”
Weiner balances his job stress with the life-affirming, mind-cleansing act of running, and he’s good at it. Weiner, 42, finished second in the masters division of the Boston Marathon on April 16 with a time of 2 hours, 31 minutes, 20 seconds.
Kelly Lear-Kaul deals with death daily as an Arapahoe County coroner. The science of forensic pathology fascinates her, but it’s not just about conducting autopsies, analyzing tests and writing reports. Sometimes she has to tell family members why their loved one died unexpectedly.
Lear-Kaul swims, bikes and runs – a lot. The day before Weiner ran so well in Boston, she finished fourth in the Arizona Ironman Triathlon in 10:14:24. Lear- Kaul beat several professional triathletes with her attention-getting performance.
Sometimes her job calls her to homicide scenes. The day I interviewed her, she had to meet with attorneys representing an alleged cop killer.
“The triathlon, running, biking helps,” said Lear-Kaul, 34. “It really is, not necessarily an escape, but a release. And when we do see people (in autopsies) who are 300 pounds and have severe heart disease at the age of 20, it really does say, ‘This is why I run.”‘
Weiner was called to the scene of the Platte Canyon High School shooting last fall because Jeffco SWAT was involved. The son of an FBI man and father of two little girls who ski race, Weiner contrasts the inhumanity he encounters in his job with the camaraderie of a marathon where runners help and support each other, even as they compete.
“That’s the way it should be out there, but it’s not,” Weiner said, shooting a glance out his office window. “I do take it home with me, and I take it pretty much on every run. I don’t think there’s a run I don’t think about work. … I find myself being able to resolve issues. Sitting at the desk, you get frustrated. Then you go for a run and all of a sudden something becomes clear.”
Weiner was a track All-American at Pittsburgh but quit running competitively when he couldn’t run 4-minute miles anymore. He went about 16 years doing other things – mountain biking, skiing – but began running competitively again when he turned 40.
After he ran two sub-2:31 marathons four weeks apart last fall, an office colleague urged him to run Boston, but he decided against it because it was ski season and he had a murder trial set in the spring. When the trial got continued, he gave in and registered for Boston.
Lear-Kaul ran track at Doherty High School and at a Division III college in Iowa, where her top priority was pre-med. She discovered triathlon through Todd DeBoom, also a forensic pathologist, when she was in med school at the University of Colorado.
Arizona was her fifth Ironman (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run), her first as the top amateur. She routinely beats professional triathletes but has no intention of going pro.
“I would not want to quit my job, because it’s a big investment,” said Lear-Kaul. “Becoming a doctor is not something I can say, ‘Oh, yeah, that was fun, now I’m going to move on to something else.’
“This is what I’ve wanted to do since I was in the eighth grade. It’s not something I want to give up and walk away from.”
