Ralph’s fitness story:
In the summer of 2007, his doctor came down hard on him. He had high blood pressure, poor cholesterol numbers, ballooning weight, and chronic asthma. He was also pre-diabetic. Ralph started working to improve his daily diet. During this time, he was greatly influenced when he went to support friends and family at a sprint triathlon and then a marathon. Ralph remembers:
First my brother, Peter, invited me to cheer him on in the sprint triathlon and then in November I went to Richmond, Virginia. My friends, Manny and John, were running their first marathons along with John’s brother, Jeff. I was inspired by seeing my friends run the complete 26 mile race, in particular, the sight of people of all shapes and sizes out on the course made me think maybe I could do this. Before the marathon weekend was over I had agreed to return to Richmond in the spring for the Ukrop’s 10K with the initial plan of walking it with John’s wife, Nidia.
The holidays came and went and Ralph’s friend reminded him in January about the spring run. Ralph took action. He went outside on Jan 10th and ran 3/10th of a mile. He ended the session with stretches and logged his weight on a chart (204 lbs). By Jan 30th, he ran a mile for the first time, and three days later 1.5 miles. He found a free training program online and kept moving. While continuing to build distance and lose weight, he decided he would try to run the spring 10K run. His friend, Manny, was running the St. Patty’s 5K race in Morristown, NJ, so he signed up as part of his training. While he did not have an official timing chip, he finished around 31 minutes and 30 seconds. His weight was down to 190 lbs and the idea of running the 10K race seemed feasible. On April 5, 2008, running the race became a reality as he ran the whole distance of the 10K in Richmond in 1 hour 6 minutes and 9 seconds. In 3 months he went from inactive to completing both a 5K and 10K race and his weight was at 186. Wanting to keep motivated, but feeling a bit burned out with running, Ralph decided to participate with his brother in a sprint triathlon at the end of the summer. This type of training was different from the way he had been training. Ralph comments:
Swimming as exercise, when you have not done it previously is really quite difficult; it can induce feelings of panic and suffocation as you try to get comfortable in the water. It turned out it was a good thing that it was so far off, as biking and swimming require quite different muscles, and I would need that time during the summer to get ready.
During the race, Ralph’s brother helped pace him and together they finished in 1 hour and 51 minutes.
Since his start in 2008, Ralph’s goal has been to improve or at least maintain his health and basic fitness In January, 2009, he signed up for a weight loss and fitness program, which offered nutritional and fitness counseling. He has used what he learned in that program to continue improvements and has managed to bring his weight down to 156 pounds. Ralph's doctor has congratulated him on the marked improvements in his test results due to the weight loss and improved fitness.
Ralph’s fund raising story:
Feeling great after his initial races in 2008, Ralph decided in 2009 that he wanted to give something back. He recalled seeing people running the Ukrop’s 10K in special shirts to fight cancer and he had seen cancer impact friends and family. For the Ukrop race, he signed up for the Massey Challenge to “Put Cancer on the Run” as a fundraiser for the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. He dedicated his fund raising to his late Aunt Grace, who died from cancer, and his former co-worker, Pat, who is a cancer survivor.
This led to another type of fund raising event for cancer. He became a shavee for St. Baldric’s, which is dedicated to the fight against childhood cancer. Shavees have the hair shaved off their heads to identify with the children whose hair has fallen out during radiation treatments. This fund raising endeavor was dedicated to Harry, a 9 year-old-boy still fighting cancer, whose Mom Eunice is a close friend of Ralph’s sister, Nancy. His other dedicatee was Mike, Ralph’s cousin’s husband, who is a childhood cancer survivor.
These combined events led to Ralph raising over $3K for cancer research. He continued working on his personal fitness goal, and engaged with family and friends in the process.
That same year, Ralph joined with a workmate, Rob, and Rob’s extended family to run the Jersey Shore Relay Marathon called RunAPalooza. This run, through several beach towns, raised funds for Special Olympics. The New Jersey chapter of Special Olympics served 18K athletes in 2009.
While continuing with the Ukrop and RunAPalooza runs in 2010, Ralph also added another cause, the Superhero Half Marathon and Relay in Morris Township, NJ, which donated the profits from the race to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. This organization is aimed toward research in spinal paralysis. It also works to educate the public and enhance the quality of life for victims of spinal paralysis.
Further, on August 15th this year, Ralph will be running in the Falmouth Road Race with his cousin, Chris. Runners for this very popular 7 mile race on Cape Cod are chosen from a lottery of thousands of entrants. Chris is running to raise money for Fairwinds. The mission of Fairwinds is to provide opportunities for friendship, support, employment, and education to people with psychiatric disabilities who live on upper Cape Cod. They also assist individuals as they recover from mental illness and co-occurring disorders, to achieve a higher quality of life. In addition, Fairwinds fosters, promotes, and advances awareness and support in the public and private sectors for mental health facilities. To sponsor Chris in this race, e-mail him.
More about Ralph’s races:The Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K: According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, this race has been named one of the top 10 races in the country by USA Today, and is one of the largest participant races in the country with over 37K registered this year. The race is started by Olympic caliber athletes, who are followed in waves by runners, joggers, walkers, and people in costumes. The sidewalks are lined with bands playing music, spirit squads, and local residents cheering everyone on.
The Labor Day weekend sprint triathlon: consists of a swim of 600 yards, a bike ride of 13 miles, and a run of 3 miles. It is part of a fun weekend that includes similar events for children over shorter distances, and wraps up with a barbecue.
The New York Century Bike Tour is organized by Transportation Alternatives as an awareness and fundraiser for bike riding in New York City. The entire route winds around 4 of the 5 boroughs of New York City and it offers different distances depending on the pace you want to ride, so you can choose to go 15 miles, 35 miles, 55 miles, 75 miles, and of course 100 miles.
Ralph, with his doctor's approval, usually follows a free training program by Hal Higdon, which gives him a sense of progress to build up toward an event. The key events he focuses on are the 10K in Richmond and the sprint triathlon, training for the 10K in the winter, and the triathlon in the summer. He has added other smaller events, such as the Resolution Run & Walk 5K, in Hillsborough, NJ, which is a great way to keep him running through the holidays and to kick off the new year in January. He tries to improve his time for a particular race or distance and also tries new events as challenges. For example, last year that included the 55 mile route for the New York Century Bike Tour and this year his first half marathon (13.1 miles). He is currently training for a full 100 mile NY Century in September.
