Local Runner Sponsored In New York City Marathon

By Stephanie Malench

smalench@timestribunenews.com

Justin Scott will be running in the New York City Marathon on November 7, 2021. But that is not the most amazing part of his story. Scott, 45, has also been a Type 1 Diabetic for the past 31 years.

Scott, a resident of Collinsville, will be running the marathon fully sponsored by Beyond Type 1. Beyond Type 1 is a nonprofit organization that connects those with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes to each other as well as education and resources.

Scott is one of 50 runners the charity is fully sponsoring for the race. Sponsorship includes race entry, race gear, shoes, motivation and support all the way through the finish line. Asics shoes custom fits each runner before the race, although Scott said no one ever wears new shoes for races.

This will be Scott’s first trip to New York and instead of running with 3,000 runners like in the Go St. Louis Marathon, he will be running with 33,000 others. The New York City Marathon is considered one of the six major marathons in the world, along with Boston, Chicago, London, Tokyo, and Berlin.

The journey for Scott began in 2017 when he decided to start running to get back into shape after moving to a more sedentary job as an office manager three years earlier from a more active job as a brick masonry contractor.

In 2018 Scott competed in his first half marathon, then competed in 99 more before the end of the year.

Two years later, Scott was motivated to compete in his first marathon, the GO St. Louis marathon in April of 2019. Scott finished the race and was pleased with his time, saying “you’ll never do a job unless you sign up for one. Before the year was over, Scott completed two more plus an ultramarathon, which was 50 K on the Katy Trail in Missouri.

The two things Scott has learned from previous marathons that he feels will help him in New York: “anything is possible” and “don’t quit”.