A Lehigh Acres man wants to fulfill a dream, or better yet stop the dreaming he has experienced every month now for several years.

And he did just that over the weekend when he flew to Sioux City Iowa, his old alma mater, and did what he used to love doing best – running track relays.

“Back in high school, I did well and got a lot of support from my friends. And I became Iowa High School State Champion in 1984 for running the 220- yard and the 440-yard relay,” said Lonnie MacPeek. He’s 43 and drives from Lehigh every day to Cape Coral where he is employed in the production department of Breeze Newspapers Inc., publishers of The Cape Coral Daily Breeze, The Lehigh Acres Citizen and several other publications in the county.

Some nights on his way home from work, he stops off at World Gym in Fort Myers where he has been working out for the past couple of months, again with plans to fulfill his dream of running.

“I had to lose some weight, and I did that and I have been working pumping iron,” he laughed.

MacPeek became an All-American when he anchored the 4×400-meter relay becoming seventh in the nation in NCAA, Division 2 back when he was younger. He’s not sure his record was broken, but laughed and said since then, it probably has been, but still he isn’t sure.

He was so good in track that he was recruited by former University of South Florida Football Coach Jim Leavitt, well-known to sporting enthusiasts. He ran track at Morningside College at the University in Sioux City from 1985 to 1990.

What really turned MacPeek on to running was when he was told by his high school coach and different college coaches that he had Olympic potential as a 400-meter runner, but life being what it is, MacPeek decided to pursue another career.

“They all told me I could do it,” MacPeek said, “but I think I wasn’t sure … I lacked confidence … and I think that has caused me have all these dreams for the past 20 years.

“They reoccur sometimes twice a week or a few times a month … and it’s the same dream, me always warming up at track meet to run, but I always miss the race or the meet,” he said.

“It’s like something inside me is telling me I should have gone on and pursued track and who knows, maybe I could have become an Olympic runner. It’s that doubt that has been on my mind for 20 years and in my dreams for a very long time,” he said.

MacPeek’s goal of losing 25 pounds was met and he said he felt he was in pretty good shape, thanks to the workouts and runs at the gym.

But over the years as he became older, he had three injections in his right knee to cushion bones and he had knee surgery in 1990. The running had taken its toll.

“I didn’t’ have any cartridge between the bones. I had casts made for my feet to make insoles supports because I have no arches,” he said.

He’s due back this week from the Sioux City Relays.

“There will be hundreds of competitors there and I know I may not win over the 18-year-olds and up, but this is to prove something to me,” he said.

“It’s been a driving force, something I have had to do, and now I have the confidence that maybe I didn’t have as a high school kid and later in college,” he said before he left last week.

MacPeek said he always had the support of his parents. His father has passed away, but his mother lives in Lehigh and she has faith in him.

“They always went to any of the track meets where I competed. I couldn’t have asked for better support. Once in 1990 they even flew into Hampton, Va., from out west to provide me with support at a meet,” he said.

While at the relays, MacPeek said he planned to run the 100 meter and a 4×100-meter relay.

And he said he was probably going to be the oldest person at the meet now that he is in his 40s, but that make no difference.

“None of that matters. I just want to prove to myself that I did it, that I could do it, and maybe that I should have gone further in track years ago,” he laughed.

“Maybe my dreams of quite never attaining my goal will go away,” he laughed.

“I really had no choice in this. I had to do what I had to do to prove something to myself,” he said.

Then with a smile on his face, he said he didn’t expect to compete that well because of his age and the younger competitors. But then again, he may surprise himself.

“You know there will be hundreds of people out there, high school age and college age and up …. but they tell me they do think I will be the oldest, but like I said, that doesn’t matter.

“What matters is that I prepare for the meet, like I do over and over in my dreams, and this time, I actually get out there on the track and do it.

“I don’t know exactly how I’ll feel,” he said before leaving Lehigh, “but I will have done what I have really wanted to do for years.”

His eyes have always been on the prize and when track competition comes up at the Olympics, you can’t pull him away from the TV set.

Maybe knowing he could have gone on and got into the Olympic program, just maybe, will mean all the world to MacPeek.

“It’s going to be interesting. I’m going to make that meet this time though,” he said. “I’m going to do it.”