In the Philadelphia Marathon field, dreams abound

Not everyone who ran in yesterday's Philadelphia Marathon was in it to win.

Among the more than 18,000 people who participated were those who braved the cold for reasons of fitness, charity or just plain satisfaction.

For example: Jeff Porter, 31, of Fairmount, defeated the odds by finishing the race. After a skydiving accident last year left him with every ligament in his left knee shredded and skin torn from both legs, doctors told him he probably would never run again.

Porter, an active runner, refused to accept that. "I decided to prove the doctors wrong and run a marathon," he said.

It took three surgeries and five months to get him walking again. From there, Porter began jogging slowly and eventually running. He finished yesterday's run with a "big smile on my face," he said.

"I took my time, I didn't go too fast," he said. "I'd always wanted to run a marathon anyway, and to be able to do it after all that I've been through was just incredible."

For David Bakker, 23, of Bedminster, Somerset County, N.J., the marathon was a chance to train for next year's Ironman Triathlon.

The Ironman, held every fall in Hawaii, includes a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike ride across a Hawaiian lava desert and a marathon along the coast.

"I spend 15 hours a week training," said Bakker.

Bakker, who works as an operations manager at a branch of New Jersey's Peapack-Gladstone Bank, said that he doesn't need to place at Ironman, he just wants to finish. To do that, however, he needs to push his body hard. Bakker runs and cycles every day, and competed yesterday in spite of a recent foot injury.

"I like setting goals for myself and reaching them," he said. "I like the resilience and confidence it gives me."

Cynthia Prudence, 28, of Providence, R.I., knows the feeling. Four years ago, the University of Rhode Island grad student weighed 240 pounds. She started running to lose weight and promised herself that when she was thinner and healthier she would run a marathon.

"I lost about 80 pounds," she said. "But I kept putting off the marathon, saying, 'Oh, I'm not ready yet, I'm not ready.' Finally, I decided to just do it."

Prudence chose the Philadelphia Marathon because she heard it was a good marathon for beginners. After training for six months, she finished the 26.2-mile race in just over four hours.

Avid marathon runners often travel long distances for a good race. Prudence said she plans to run in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Seattle in June.

Deena Ferguson and Janice Gonzales, meanwhile, use long-distance running as a tool to maintain their long-distance friendship.

Ferguson, 43, and Gonzales, 50, became friends as members of the Shatter Ridge Community Church, in Roseville, Calif. When Ferguson moved back to her hometown of West Monroe, La., 2 1/2 years ago, the two decided to start meeting in different cities and run marathons together.

Ferguson and Gonzales have participated in marathons in Dallas; Portland, Ore.; Jackson, Miss.; and Sacramento, Calif. Their travels have allowed them to meet other runners and make friends across the country.

"That's the great thing about running," said Ferguson. "You can talk while you run. When you run long-distance, you have a lot of time to talk and catch up."

For some, though, running is more than a hobby or lifestyle choice, it's a philanthropic effort.

As Dale Woodring, 43, of Bel Air, Md., passed the 20-mile mark in yesterday's race, he had one person on his mind: Mark, a first-grader who suffers from Duchenne's, a severe form of muscular dystrophy.

Woodring asked friends and family to support his marathon run by donating to a drug company that is developing a therapy that could drastically improve Mark's condition.

"They've given it to dogs with Duchenne's and they were able to walk in just a matter of weeks," Woodring said. "This could improve Mark's life fairly quickly.

"That definitely kept me running," he said.