Jason GreerIf you're looking for something inspirational to do late Sunday evening, something on the order of cheering the Father of the Century across the Ironman finish line, you might want to drop by Ross's Landing a shade before midnight to root home Chattanooga firefighter Jason Greer.
Greer isn't likely to qualify for the 2015 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He's pretty much just hoping to drag his 42-year-old body to the finish by 12:15 Monday morning, which is the final minute in which the 17 hours it will likely have taken him to swim 2.4 miles, bike 116 miles and run 26.2 miles will designate him an official finisher.
"I know my mind and heart won't give out," he said Thursday. "I just worry about my body."
But completing the first Ironman he's attempted is not why Greer deserves a welcoming committee to rival the Parisians greeting the Allies following the Liberation of Paris in 1944. He deserves it because he's doing all this for his cancer-stricken son Tristin, as well as raising money for Emily's Power for a Cure and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
"We've already raised close to $20,000 for these two incredible organizations," he said. "Hopefully, by the time the Ironman's over, we'll have more than that."
It all started about this time a year ago with the news that the Scenic City would host this weekend's Ironman. Having been so touched by the kindnesses shown his family by Emily's Power for a Cure and Make-A-Wish, Greer decided he would train his then-320-pound body for the event, hopeful his effort would inspire great giving.
It's worth noting that those 320 pounds weren't thinly spread over a long frame. Greer's height is much closer to a jockey than a giraffe.
"I'm not some chiseled athlete," he said with a laugh. "I'm short and fat, at least I was. But I've lost over 60 pounds, and it was closer to 70 for awhile this summer."
The reason why he's gained back a few pepperoni pizza slices is the same reason he took them off: Tristin, an 18-year-old University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman who's been battling Stage 4 neuroblastoma for more than four years.
Because traditional medicine long ago failed his cancer, the family of five -- parents Bronde and Jason, Tristin and the 13-year-old twins, Austin and Justin -- have traveled at least twice a month for more than two years to Grand Rapids, Mich., for experimental treatments.
"I can't tell you how many times I've seen him drive 15 hours from Michigan, drop his family off at home, then come straight here and work a full shift," said Richard Britt, a fire captain at the No. 19 fire station in Hixson, where Greer works. "He and his family are going through such a difficult time, and to see him accomplish this is remarkable. You'll never meet a nicer, better person in your life than Jason Greer."
But those trips have also forced Greer to eat food that was better for adding crucial weight to Tristin's frail frame than removing it from Jason's generous build.
"Whatever Tristin wanted, that's what we ate," Jason said. "He just needs to gain weight so badly."
Yet whatever his own pound problems, Greer has trained well enough long enough to have run a half-dozen half-marathons and complete one half-Ironman this year in Alabama.
And each step, pedal and stroke has been followed by advice first given him by personal trainer Andy Sweet, who's repeatedly told Greer, "Everything is pacing. It's better to be efficient than fast."
"It's worked great so far," Jason said. "I know I'm half an Ironman. I just hope I'm ready to be a full Ironman."
His co-workers say he's a fully better firefighter without that extra firehose around his middle.
"The transformation has been huge," said Tim Bryant, who also works at Station 19, as well as overseeing the finances for Firefighters Local 820. "He's always been a great guy, but without that weight he's happier, he has more energy. We're all so proud of him."
So proud, in fact, that Local 820 has arranged for two 15-passenger vans to take supporters of Jason from the Emily's Power for a Cure and Make-A-Wish hospitality tent onto the course and the finish line late Sunday. The tent's location can be found early Sunday on its Facebook site.
"We just want to make sure there will be a lot of people out there telling him to run faster," Bryant said with a chuckle.
Judging from Greer's own pre-race expectations for family and friends, two vans might not be enough.
Not only will his "firefighter brothers and sisters" be there en masse, there will also be the Emily's Power for a Cure and Make-A-Wish folks, as well as the Greers' extended family, some arriving from as far away as Iowa.
And when he finishes, whenever he finishes, he already knows what he wants to eat.
"A Lupi's calzone," Jason said. "Extra cheese, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, black olives, bacon. The perfect postrace meal."
And should he somehow fall short of that 12:15 cutoff time in Monday's earliest minutes?
"My goal is just to cross the finish line," he said. "I'm mostly about motivation, dedication, strength and heart -- all those characteristics I see in Tristin every day of his life."
Or maybe, just maybe, the characteristics Tristin learned long ago from his dad.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com