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St. Michael's cross-country runner, who has cerebral palsy, makes each race a personal contest to improve

The Santa Fe New Mexican - 10/27/2019

Oct. 27--For Gabe McMahon, it's personal.

The St. Michael's junior cross-country runner knows competing for individual titles or even running with the front of the pack won't happen, and he has accepted that. McMahon, who has cerebral palsy, has found his own challenge, and he uses the clock as his main competitor.

McMahon competes in junior varsity races, and his goal is to continue to trim the seconds and minutes off of his best time. He remembers the elation he felt when he finally broke the 30-minute barrier last year, and now, a time slower than that brings disappointment.

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Still, it took some time for him to come to grips with his competitive side, which drives him to simply do better every race. McMahon pointed to his performance Friday at the Santa Fe Prep Invitational at the Pojoaque Wellness Center, as he finished the 5-kilometer course in 29 minutes, 4 seconds. It didn't matter that he finished 17th out of 17 runners. That he was within 4 seconds of a performance inside of 29 minutes, which he did once this year at the John Grimley Memorial Invitational on Oct. 5, offered him encouragement.

"I've gotten a lot better because I got into the mindset that it's more of a personal thing," McMahon said. "I saw I came in last, but I feel like I ran really good because, even though everyone had a better time than me, that doesn't mean I'm not really bad."

His mother, Maria McMahon, also finds the silver lining when her son gets frustrated with his finishes.

"I keep reminding Gabe that he's so much better than so many people who aren't even out there," Maria McMahon said. "They're sitting on a couch, they're afraid to put themselves out there. But you're out here, and you're doing it."

That Gabe McMahon is on the course is a remarkable achievement itself. He was born premature (in the 26th week), and Maria McMahon remembers doctors telling her that he might not be able to walk or talk because of bleeding on his brain. And that was if he survived the first few months.

"It was horribly scary," Maria McMahon said. "When your child codes in the hospital, and you're watching them perform CPR on him, your heart breaks."

Gabe was in intensive care in an Albuquerque hospital for three months before getting transferred to Cristus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center for another two-week stay before he went home. Gabe was on oxygen for his first two years -- "24 hours a day," Maria said -- and then only when he slept until he was 6.

Amid those challenges, though, were moments of celebration, like when he sat up for his first time when he was 1. He started speaking soon after that, and the concerns about his quality of life started to ease.

"When we knew that he wasn't going to be bound to a wheelchair or need a walker for support, that was such a relief," Maria McMahon said.

Still, Gabe's life was filled with doctors visits and a plethora of therapists -- a vision therapist to help with depth perception issues, another for speech, plus the occupational and physical therapists. All of those visits, though, helped Gabe develop socially, as he grew comfortable being around people.

Maria McMahon said she often loses track of Gabe McMahon when they run errands because he has struck a conversation with a stranger -- who doesn't stay a stranger for long. Gabe McMahon adds that he occasionally got into trouble because of his affable nature.

"When I talk to people, I rarely notice that I should be doing work instead," Gabe McMahon said. "I have to be more conscious about following the rules."

While school has been a boon for him socially, it didn't have the same impact on his education initially. Gabe went to public school when he was 5, and while he doesn't remember much about his experience, he said the support system for him was not very good and teachers were not so accommodating of his needs. So, his parents moved him to Santo Niño Regional Catholic School, and they felt the quality of education for Gabe improved.

Maria McMahon said St. Michael's has "bent over backward" for him.

"St. Mike's has been just the most amazing place for him to be," Maria McMahon said. "Everybody there is just so supportive and encouraging to him. He's just thrived there."

But the McMahons weren't concerned with just his educational needs. Gabe played soccer and T-ball as a youth, but Maria McMahon said as he grew older and the level of play elevated, it prevented him from competing as he would have liked.

When he approached middle school, Maria McMahon encouraged Gabe to give cross-country a try. Older sister Gillian McMahon, a 2018 St. Michael's graduate, competed for the varsity, so it seemed like a good fit -- to everybody but Gabe McMahon.

"At first, pretty much the only reason I ran was because my mom made me," Gabe McMahon said. "But running is something that everyone does all the time, and you don't need any equipment or anything like that. It's a really easy thing."

When Gabe McMahon started, though, the one thing his middle school coach, Carol Luttrell, made sure about was that Gabe always had his phone when he went on a practice run. That continued when Gabe moved to the high school level, and St. Michael's head coach Lenny Gurule and assistant Cisco Rivera also went on runs with him.

Notes from the north

"We'd do off-campus runs and on trails," Gurule said. "So, the first couple of years, we ran with him so that he could navigate those areas."

Gabe McMahon started completing races in the 35-40 minute range for the first couple of years, until he had his breakthrough late in his sophomore year.

He admitted that there were times that he wondered if the sport was worthwhile.

"There were a bunch of times that I sort of felt that way, where I thought about giving up and that I'm not good at this," Gabe McMahon said. "What's been a really big thing for me is that I have a bunch of support from my family."

That support group is growing, though. Gurule calls him a great teammate who works hard and has a great sense of humor -- although sometimes it is unintentional. Gurule said it is hard to remember a funny anecdote because Gabe McMahon has so many.

"He's always pretty funny," Gurule said. "I don't think he means to be funny, but it's always in good nature."

Maria McMahon, though, is more succinct.

"He can be more of a smart aleck," Maria McMahon said. "He's a very funny child, but he's very caring and considerate. He'll go out of his way to make sure other people have what they need, too."

But people have a way of giving back to Gabe McMahon, too. He recalled beating a runner to the finish at a race earlier this year, then the opponent came up to McMahon at the following meet and struck up a conversation.

"He said, 'Hi,' to me, and I had forgotten who he was," Gabe McMahon said. "He was talking about how I beat him fair and square. So, we started talking, and that guy was nice. Then he beat me that time, so now we're even now."

That's hardly the case. If anything, Gabe McMahon is winning in the game of life.

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