The Run of the Mill to raise money and awareness for the Gateway Childhood Obesity Prevention programs kicked off yesterday. There was GREAT support from all the staff as many of them took their turn on the ‘mill. The members were also very supportive.
There were many ways the members and guests could show their support. There is a raffle for a two-year membership for the Grand Prize. Other prizes available were gift certificates to restaurants, car washes, florists etc. The drawing will be held on Friday, April 16th.
Other ways people could give was through donations and also by purchasing a “Run of the Mill” T-shirt. Stop by and give to the cause!!
- Marcus and YWCA CEO Florence Corpening
The Run started at 6:00 a.m. and all was well. After a quick bathroom break, I settled into a good pace and was joined in the 7:00a.m. hour by our CEO,Florence Corpening. As always, Florence was there supporting her staff and the Gateway in all we do. It was an honor having her be the first “Guest Runner”!! Still on a great pace and with the AWESOME support of the Gateway family, I continued on. From 9:00a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Kim Gebbia and Nicole Ducouer joined me. Kim spent an hour and finished 7 miles. I was jealous watching her pace increase as mine stayed moderate and steady.
- WXII 12′s Kim Gebbia
Kim got off the ‘Mill after her hour, having to head to a news story that was waiting for her in Davidson County. Again, thanks Kim for taking the time to stop by and participate.
Kim passed the “baton” to her WXII 12 colleague and YWCA board member,Nicole Ducouer. You can’t ask for a better board member than Nicole. Every time I have asked her to help with something she has, and she is so nice while doing it. Definitely a “cool” person. She got her run on and then also had a trip ahead of her to Virginia. Thanks for stopping by Nicole.
- YWCA Board Member-Nicole Ducouer
This brought me to my first break and I had 23 miles under my belt,a pace that was actually ahead of schedule. When I stepped off the treadmill I felt GREAT!! Not just good, but really good, fresh with the body feeling like it has a lot more left in the tank.In my mind I start thinking all the hard work has paid off. I used the down time to hit Subway around the corner, so I could take my official “assistant” and Awesome son Cain, to get something to eat. I took that time to stretch, and when I got back, took a shower, changed and got ready for round two.
Round two started with me being joined by our Youth Wellness Coordinator, Hatti Taylor. Hatti is a trip!! She was the perfect person to help kick off round two. She keeps things light and relaxed.
- Gateway Youth Wellness Coordinator-Hatti Taylor
Then the big gun came to the party. Iron Man Triathlete Mike Huddleston got on and clocked a quick 7.5 miles. He wasn’t planning on putting that many miles in since he had a swim meet he was participating in later that day, but when he saw how many miles Kim Gebbia covered, he took it as a “challenge” and proceeded to best the WXII news reporter. AWESOME!! And even though this sounds repetitive, Mike is always there supporting the things being done at the Gateway YWCA.
- Iron Mike in action at the Gateway
Now is where it started to get disappointing for me. I still had a decent pace going, but started to notice what felt like something was in my shoe,like a rock, or maybe my sock had slipped a little into the shoe and bunched up. I ran like that for about an hour and then at 3:00, got off and changed my shoes and socks. When I got back out to the treadmills, I was pleasantly surprised that I was being joined by our Member Services Director, Eurica Daniels, whom I affectionately refer to as “E-Money”.
- Eurica Daniels-Member Services Director
She spent a little time on before having to get back to work. Once she left, all my attention focused back on my foot. It was throbbing, and I now knew it wasn’t a rock or my socks, but something going wrong with it. This was unchartered territory for me, since I hadn’t had any foot problems throughout my preparation for the run. I had a scheduled break coming up at 5:00, so I decided to walk for the last 20 minutes and then get off to see what my foot situation was. The problem was now that my left foot was hurting to the point I was putting more on my right foot, which started to do the same thing to it. 5:00 finally came,and I stopped for the break. I had 42 miles under my belt, still on pace for what I needed, and from the ankles up, I felt fairly good. I knew from the pain radiating out of my shoe, that my left foot was bad, but I didn’t want to admit how bad it was,so I tried to put on the brave face, telling myself I would be back after the break, knowing deep down that would be tough to do.
- Some of The Gateway TEAM They are AWESOME!! Trevira, Eurica, Shelia, Renae and Charlie
Being that my wife, Jennifer is a nurse, I knew if anything could be done about my foot she could do it. I met her at the house. I hadn’t taken my shoes off because I was afraid of what I was going to see.I took the right shoe and sock off and found a basic blister, but one that could be semi-tolerated if need be, as long as padding and precautions were taken. Now the left one. Taken the shoe off hurt, but not like a soreness, but more like a rawness. When i got the shoe off, my worst fears were realized, the left sock was blood-red on the entire bottom of the sock and when the sock came off, I had 2 blood filled blisters on the bottom of my foot, right behind the ball of the foot. The first words out of my wife, the nurses mouth was, “You aren’t running tomorrow.” Words I didn’t want to hear because I didn’t want to let myself or anyone else down, but words I had already told myself. The bright spot for me is the fact that other than my feet, the rest of me was fairly fresh considering I had just done 42 miles, and when I woke up today, the body was ready to roll, the feet just couldn’t answer the “bell” for round two.
The reason for this event was to raise awareness for our Childhood Obesity programs and that is why we will see this through ’til the end. Next week, all goes as planned minus the record. God willing, I will be back up on the treadmill Monday morning. Our Great sponsors will be there throughout the week, and we will persist, just like the YWCA always does. Thanks to Chick-Fil-A,Vitamin Water, Fox and Hound, Wright Chiropractic State Farm, Comfort Inn and Suites , Advocare and all our other sponsors for all they did and continue to do for the Gateway YWCA. See you Monday!!
- About to start…
- Eating on the Run
- At the end-Talking about blisters with Michael from ABS
