John Quattrocchi once said to himself that he would never run a 5K. Now he has a schedule filled with races, including next Sunday’s Back Mountain Triathlon.

John Quattrocchi once said to himself that he would never run a 5K. Now he has a schedule filled with races, including next Sunday’s Back Mountain Triathlon.

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How do we see ourselves as triathletes and as competitive individuals? Often, we might not fully recognize our own athletic abilities or feel we measure up to other athletes in our age group or region. But how accurate are these self-perceptions? If an outsider observed us from the outside, how would they perceive us?

John Quattrocchi is 32 years old and lives in Forty Fort. Quattrocchi works for Geisinger and is originally from Staten Island, New York. Last year he completed his first multisport event at the Back Mountain Triathlon.

But Quattrocchi is no stranger to competition. Although he says he didn’t play a lot of sports growing up, Quattrocchi has an innate natural ability as an athlete.

When Quattrocchi was just 16 years old, he won the Staten Island Individual Boys High School Championship for bowling. That same year, he bowled a perfect 300 game. A perfect game consists of 12 consecutive strikes, knocking down all 10 pins. Even for professionals the odds are pretty low, but for the average person who bowls the odds are a pretty astounding 11,500-to-1.

Growing up in a family of bowlers meant time at Rab’s Country Lanes or at the Knights of Columbus. Quattrocchi started bowling in a kids league, and eventually rolling for his high school team.

While bowling may not be an aerobic sport, and while Quattrocchi claims that he wasn’t much of an athlete growing up, the skills that bowling requires — concentration, consistency and confidence — translate well into any athletic endeavor.

After high school, Quattrocchi moved north to SUNY ESF in Syracuse where he focused on biotechnology and graduated in 2014. He didn’t play any organized sports, but did make an occasional visit to the gym to run or walk on the treadmill.

He realized as he got into his 20s that “I didn’t want to let myself go.” He was mostly lifting weights, and has a vivid memory of saying to himself, “I’m never going to do a 5K.”

Things changed in May 2017 when he met 5x IronMan Scott Skammer. Whether Skammer inspired or motivated him, Quattrocchi started running outside and the following year moved to Forty Fort so that they could be together.

His running started to improve. At first he aimed to run 3 miles straight, and then 5 miles without stopping

“This feels good. I enjoy this,” went through his mind when he was running. Pretty soon he was ready for his first race — the Wyoming Valley Striders Cherry Blossom 5-miler in Kirby Park. He remembers the weather as being terrible and his time as being not much better.

In 2018, he attempted the famous Utica Boilermaker 15K and completed it. He was getting the running bug and already thinking of other ways to challenge himself.

In 2019, he participated in the Staten Island Half Marathon in his hometown, which finishes at the terminal for the Staten Island Ferry. That same year he bought his first Specialized bicycle at Around Town Bikes in Wilkes-Barre. When you live with an IronMan, biking is a great way to spend quality time together.

He worked on the biking skills by himself mostly, not wanting to embarrass himself before his first public ride. His first group ride was during COVID.

He also wanted to improve his swimming. Within a few months of adding consistent swims to his regimen, his swimming had dramatically improved, something that might take the average adult years to achieve.

Quattrocchi set a personal goal of wanting to complete a marathon before he was 30 years old. He decided the best way to do that was as a part of the Ryan’s Run team (now Team Allied Services) and do the New York City Marathon.

New York might be the most iconic race of them all for Quattrocchi since it was in his hometown. But he had other reasons for picking this race — it would be as part of a team in his adopted hometown, and he would be required to raise money for causes local to that area. It would also be the 50th running of the iconic NYC Marathon.

He ended up raising $4,500 for Ryan’s Run and completed the 26.2 mile, five-borough course in 4 hours, 44 minutes.

Unfortunately, after a stellar early training cycle, Quattrocchi got COVID in September 2021, just two months before the race. Although he recovered in time to participate, it did mess up some critical training weeks in the approach to the race, something Quattrocchi regrets and hopes to improve upon at this years NYC Marathon, where he will be participating as a member of Team Allied Services. (Quattrocchi also has a dream of putting on a 4.44 mile race in Forty Fort, possibly on April 4 — details to follow.)

Where did Quattrocchi hone his athletic skills and get in this kind of shape? The kind of shape it takes to place in the top 10 in your age group at your first triathlon and finish the NYC Marathon?

He likes to credit the swim group at the local Catholic Youth Center, the inexpensive, 24-hour access at Planet Fitness, classes at Vive and doing spin and crossfit with the crew at Anthracite Fitness Factory. He also credits the Saturday morning rides with Around Town Bikes in Wilkes-Barre led by Rich Adams, and the informal but challenging Wednesday night Lake ride.

Like the millennial that he is, Quattrocchi did a lot of online research himself about swimming, cycling and running. He also listened to a lot of the athletes he found himself socializing with at dinners and breakfasts after rides and runs, picking up little nuggets about training and racing that he pocketed away for future use. As you can see, it takes a village.

Training with Quattrocchi is enjoyable. He has a good sense of humor and people enjoy being around him. He works hard, but he doesn’t complain a lot.

Close friend, runner and local attorney Carly Hislop had this to say: “To know John is to know that every activity or adventure, big or small, is always more enjoyable having him along for the ride.

“When I ran a race last year, totally out of shape and only to keep my running streak alive, in true John fashion, he forewent any personal goals he had for the race and ran by my side. In that eighth year of running my favorite race (Run for the Diamonds), I never enjoyed it more; a true testament to John and his friendship.”

Whether he realized it as a youngster, he should accept it by now — Quattrocchi is a natural athlete. He is also motivated to improve himself and get better at the sport. “Working out is fun” to him. His future goals include a sub 4 hour marathon when he returns to New York on Sunday, November 3rd.

When asked what he wants to improve about his Back Mountain Triathlon race next weekend, Quattrocchi said, “My transitions. Every second counts.”

When asked about his favorite of the three events, he said “Last year it was the bike. This year it’s tied between swim and run!”

When asked about his favorite part of this wildly popular local race, he cites “seeing so many people I know racing and spectating. The race really has a hometown local feel.”

He especially enjoyed the out and back portion of the run course where he could wave to people who he knew as they passed by and encouraged each other — especially on the way back because he knew he was on his way to the finish line.

“As an athlete myself, I always enjoy playing sports more than watching them,” Hislop said. “However, spectating the Back Mountain Triathlon last year and watching John compete in his first triathlon was unbelievably rewarding.

“Seeing John take on — and conquer — the triathlon, all the while passing his friends and family with a smile (and laughing at our Taylor Swift themed motivational signs), was such a fun and motivational day.”

The Back Mountain Triathlon really inspired Quattrocchi to take the step into triathlon because it would take place on the roads he biked and ran on, and in the lake where he had done his first open water swim.

After the Back Mountain Triathlon next week, he has plans to do the Wyoming Valley Run, the NYC Marathon and the Run for the Diamonds with hopes of finishing off the season at the Back Mountain Trail 5K with hundreds of friends and other local runners.

And in the back of his mind — or maybe even near the front of his mind — this natural athlete, bowler turned marathoner turned triathlete, hopes to do a full IronMan. Stay tuned.