Patrick Rizzo has spent the past decade trying to reach the Olympics in the marathon, but road racing just isn’t as much fun as it used to be. He is beginning to think he will find more joy in mountain and ultra running, training on Pikes Peak and other trails near his home in Colorado Springs.
There is one thing he would like to accomplish before calling it a career on the roads, though: win Sunday’s Colfax Marathon.
“I’ve run some fast times,” Rizzo said, “but I’ve never won a marathon.”
Rizzo, who ran in the marathon Olympic Trials three times and won the Colfax Half Marathon in 2012, came to the sport in an unusual way. There was heartache involved.
Growing up in suburban Chicago, his first love in sports was wrestling. His father wrestled, as did his brother, and Patrick wrestled from second grade until 10th. He ran cross country as a high school freshman, but primarily to get in shape for wrestling season.
Then his life took a sad turn. After getting braces on his teeth in 10th grade, he suddenly went totally deaf in both ears. He had to quit wrestling because his inner ear was affected, compromising his equilibrium.
“Sophomore year I was starting to take running more seriously, but going deaf expedited that process,” said Rizzo, 32. “I took running a whole lot more seriously because I couldn’t wrestle anymore.”
His equilibrium issues worsened his junior year.
“There were days I couldn’t walk a straight line, let alone show up for practice and go for a run,” Rizzo said. “It was pretty extreme on some days.”
Friends turned their backs on him. His grades suffered. He didn’t know sign language and had to learn mostly from textbooks. But when he could run, he ran hard.
“I knew, even if I could never hear the rest of my life, I could always run,” Rizzo said. “I committed myself to being the best runner I could be.”
Then, in his senior year, the cause of his mysterious hearing loss was revealed. When his braces were removed, he regained hearing in one ear. It turned out he was allergic to surgical steel. Even now he has allergic reactions if he gives blood for the doping tests elite distance are required to take. A simple blood draw can cause him to lose hearing for a day or two.
He ran for North Central College, a Division III school in Naperville, Ill., where he became a seven-time All-American. For three years after college he ran for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, a well-known Olympic development group based in suburban Detroit. He finished 26th in the 2008 marathon Olympic Trials in New York, where teammate Brian Sell finished third and made the U.S. team for Beijing.
Rizzo decided he’d had enough of living in the Midwest and moved to Boulder in 2010, still pursuing his Olympic dreams. He finished 13th at the 2012 marathon Olympic Trials and moved to Colorado Springs in 2014. He had a bad day at this year’s Olympic Trials, struggling with the heat in Los Angeles. At 10 miles he quit racing and ran just to complete the race without winding up in a hospital, finishing 73rd.
He hasn’t ruled out another bid for the Olympics in four years, but for now he wants to explore mountain running, another avenue to represent the U.S. in international competitions. Opportunities for mountain training abound less than 3 miles from his home.
“The road racing scene has lost a little bit of its fun for me,” Rizzo said. “I’ve been doing this post-college for 10 years now. Getting up and grinding out 5-minute miles isn’t as fun as it used to be at 22. But getting up and running a 2,000-foot vertical in the middle of a run, that can be a blast. That’s what I’ve been enjoying.”
He is determined to capture his first marathon win Sunday, though.
“That’s something I’d really like to do,” Rizzo said. “It’s my one last piece of unfinished business on the roads.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
Colfax marathon races
All races Sunday finish in City Park
Marathon: Starts at 6 a.m. in City Park
Half marathon: Starts at 6:45 a.m. in City Park
10-miler: Staggered starts from 8-9:30 a.m., Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Lakewood.
