Since birth, challenges have been where Alex Montoya thrives

David Moye | Downtown News

In 2010, Alex Montoya was at a true peak in his life and career: he was working his dream job as Director of Latino Affairs for the San Diego Padres and had just finished a successful tour promoting his first book, “Swinging for the Fences: Choosing to Live an Extraordinary Life.”

However, the price of getting what you want is that it becomes what you once wanted.

“Once you achieve that, you want something more,” Montoya confessed.

The Padres executive decided he might want to attempt to run in that year’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon since he had never tried endurance sports before; although he knew the training regimen required would be challenging – he was born without both arms and one leg due to a congenital birth defect.

“You have to understand; each prosthetic adds 10 extra pounds on each limb,” he said.

Adding to the difficulty, Montoya decided to turn the experience of training for the marathon into another book, “The Finish Line,” which was just released.

“That was a big deal because I knew if I didn’t finish, I could be writing about my failure,” he said. “It’s tough knowing everyone else can run at a good speed and you’re just trying to make sure they don’t have to pick you up in the truck at the end of the race.”

Montoya speaks both English and Spanish, but doesn’t seem to know the word “failure” in either language. Growing up in San Diego, he dreamed of going to Notre Dame and of working for the Padres.

He ended up doing both, even though he jokes the college education cost him ‘an arm and a leg.’

“That’s my signature line,” he laughed.

Montoya doesn’t back down from a challenge, but he did approach the marathon realistically. He didn’t think he could go the complete 26.2 miles, but was willing to be part of a four-person relay team with his friends, Karen (Madden) Kawachi, Alison Glabe and Colleen McEniry.

“We divided up the marathon into ‘legs’ and they allowed me to be the one to cross the finish line,” he said. “I did four miles, but I had to walk two miles to get to where I was supposed to start.”

Aside from the usual stressors facing anyone attempting an endurance run, Montoya had other things to overcome, such as lower back pain exacerbated by the prosthetics.

Oh, and strange looks from people while he was training.

“I did the training outside of Petco Park,” he said. “It’s almost a mile around the perimeter and people looked at me funny, wondering, ‘Why is he walking around in circles?’”

Although Montoya’s effort tugged at people’s heartstrings during the marathon, he wasn’t doing it for that reason.

“My main goal was to challenge myself and stay in shape,” he said.

Looking back, he laughs at the reaction some of the other runners gave him during the marathon.

“I wore a pair of Notre Dame shorts, and people would come up to me, and say, ‘Good job!’ and then, after seeing the shorts, they’d say, ‘Irish suck!’”

With “The Finish Line” just released, Montoya plans to promote it when he’s not doing his day job with the Padres.

He also expects to find another challenge to work on, and thinks he has something in mind.

“I’m not married, so that might be the next big thing,” he said.

To learn more about Montoya’s books and life, find him on Facebook at  facebook.com/pages/The-Finish-Line/226105287466835?fref=ts or follow him on Twitter: @alexmontoya619.

San Diego native David Moye writes Weird News for the Huffington Post. You can learn more about him at huffingtonpost.com/david-moye.