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| I've been asked by many of you, "So how did all this get started ?"
Well, honestly I'm a man of Faith. So, I have no doubt this is
what God has in his plans for me.
I got inspired some 10 years ago by another Father of a
special needs son. If you are into triathlons you probably
know Rick and Dick Hoyt (www.teamhoyt.com). AMAZING !!!
Seems to raise awareness for a cause you need to either
climb, bike or run. So I figured what the heck !!!
Well, as year after year passed, we got more involved with
other families with similar diagnosis like Sammy.
Sue decided to leave her job to devote time to Sam.
She ended up being President of the 22q13 Deletion Foundation.
(I'm so PROUD of her and I'm sure I don't tell her enough).
I was a runner back in high school (1981-1984). I didn't do
much running after that (1 year in college), so at age 39
(3 years ago) I decided to try and start running again. Well,
let's just say Sammy's Run might not be taking place right
now. I was about 35 pounds heavier and my first run on
January 1st, 2006 of 2 miles was painful.
(I said OK, God must be another way !!)
I was blessed with God given talent for running, so I did a lot
(and I mean a lot) of praying and put myself in Gods hands.
Slowly, but surely, I started getting better, 2 miles to 3 miles
to eventually 6 miles. I eventually started running 5K's and
running decent times.
From my first 5K in May 2006 I ran a time of 21:32, while a
respectable time for a man in his 40's, I was pretty discouraged.
I ran 15:15 cross country in high school. After lots of hard work
and coming across a coach named Mickey Hooke ( check
out www.grassrootsrunning.com his stats speak for themselves)
I ran a 16:03 within 1 year of running the 21:32. I trained very hard
but kept (or tried ) to keep things in perspective. I remember Mickey's
advice. He asked what is important in Rich Lomas's life, and I don't
mean running ? I said my relationship with Christ, my wife and my son.
So he replied, "then running should never be above those".
Train hard, have goals, but have fun !!! So I ran, ran and ran
hoping to get some recognition to some how get the word
out that I was doing this to get a race organized for my son.
Well along come the Flanagans (Tom and Nancy), a spot
opened up and they said it would be perfect to fill it with
Sammy's 5K. What a blessing, they took off with this idea
and here we are !!! To say they have been a tremendous
help is an understatement. Also, I was trying to figure out
where to host the race. I finally decided Oak Park School
would be a possibility. I mentioned it to one of Sam's therapist
and she took of with the idea. Many thanks to all the Oak Park
staff and parents involved, they all are working extra hard
to get this organized.
A special thanks to my wife, she is a big reason this has come
together. She's been 150% behind me on this "running thing".
She said "kiddingly", if this is your midlife crisis..have at it.!!
She's put up with the me waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. prior to a race,
or the out of town trips to compete.
(Thank You SUE, I love you and thank you for Sam).
Also a special thanks to Coach Paul Wilson, he is one talented
individual and heck of a coach and that is putting it lightly.
He probably won't like me putting this in about him, but what
can you say about a guy who some 16 years ago at age 47
was running 4:20 miles and 15:20 5K's.
He coaches many members of the Manasota Track Club for
FREE (just the goodness of his heart). Right now, I'm under
his guidance so I'm thankful for both Paul and Mickey.
So please come out to our race and have fun !!
A couple more thing I'll leave you with..........
If you have goals like I did, don't give up.
I like what the Hoyt's message says,
"There is no T in (CAN)",
I try not to use the word CAN't anymore!!
Keep at it !!!
Also,
Apart from reading the Bible (which I "sheepishly" admit
I don't do enough of), these are a couple of clips that I watch
several times prior to race day to draw inspiration.
This really gets me pumped up !!!
(have a Kleenex ready, see below).
If I can ever figure out this swimming thing, I hope to do
triathlons like them. But I'm not doing very well in the water,
so maybe I'm just meant to be a runner !!!
(so if anybody thinks they can teach me, let me know !)
Dick and Rick Hoyt, I Can Only Imagine
(We had the privilege of meeting the Hoyts,
Sue,Sam and I hope to run the 2009 Falmouth
Road Race with them this year).
The Ryan Hall Story
(We also had the privilege of meeting Ryan
earlier this year,2009, at the Gasparilla 15K.
I thanked him for his testimony on this video.
I could relate (to a smaller degree) to what he
was saying, I've got to admit for a while there,
I was losing focus about why I was running and
focusing on winning).
God Bless,
Ricardo
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