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A Quiet Focus   

The Larry Martel Story

Larry Martel is a local guy. He grew up here. Played sports. Graduated from Bishop. So, it’s only fitting that his life’s compass would be shaped by one magical night right here where his roots are. Here in Santa Barbara. On the Mesa. That was 20 years ago. In 1989.
           
Yes, a chance meeting at Deano’s Pizza would determine his life’s journey.

This particular night started off very innocently with Larry watching his cherished Raiders on Monday Night Football with his buddies over a brewskee. His total immersion into Raider Nation was launched years earlier at age seven, when Mom brought new sport pajamas for her two boys.

Larry got the Raider ones. Brother Rudy got the Rams. Family football lines were immediately drawn in the sand and still run deep from Day One.

Back at Deano’s, two pretty college co-eds sat nearby enjoying pizza, refreshing beverages and the MNF game in the crowded restaurant, They, too, were careening their necks to see the  televisions high above on the wall. TV’s, as you may recall, were actually normal size back – non-“hi-def,” flat-screen, satellite-searching mega-channel jumbotrons, like today.

Local grad Lisa Patton, a SMHS classmate of Dawn Price (nee Schroeder of later M4L fame), was home from college in San Diego with her friend, Dana – a Denver Bronco fanatic. It was fate that brought them to Deano’s to watch Dana’s beloved Broncos play the dreaded Raiders.

Amongst the good-natured banter flying in every direction, Larry and Lisa connected. A non-cell-phone number was later exchanged. A date followed. Then another.

You get the picture….

Larry and Lisa soon fell in love and got married. In Santa Barbara. Three years later (1992).

He now runs the family biz – Chemmark of Santa Barbara, started by Lisa’s dad in the 1970’s – and supplies conveyer dish machines and other equipment to local restaurants.

It’s a busy life now for the Martel Family -- Larry and Lisa are active parents of two boys of their own – Josh (13) and Nicholas (9). It’s the weekly M4L training that Larry savors to ensure his sanity and his focus. While not a big fan of races and triathlons, the early Saturday morning M4L training structure and coaching propels him forward, all while keeping him grounded.

Yes, local guy, Larry Martel may be a man of few words but it’s his quiet dedication to his family…to his work…and to his training that speaks volumes of his determination and commitment to live life to the fullest every day…

              …right here at home “where the heart is”…
 
in beautiful Santa Barbara. 

-- Randy Weiss 
August 2009

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