Running Fit 501 Boston Times

Boston Finishers:

5289 Patrick Carroll 3.03.41 7.01 pace, PR! BQ!
6282 Coach Rob Morgan 3.11.10 7.20 pace, PR! BQ!
7510 Coach Alex Walton (Seattle) 3.21.33
12805 Farsad Fotouhi 3.27.28 7.50 pace, PR! BQ!
Coach Claudio Salas 3.30.38 7.58 pace
14891 Courtney Johnson 3.33.07 7.58 pace, PR! BQ!
13201 Mary Gallagher 3.34.58
14165 Rick Neubert 3:36.34 8.15 pace BQ!
9854 Aaron Pratt 3.40.55 8.21 pace
16257 Katie Sytniak 3:46:59 8.39 pace
18857 Carmen Green-Lee 3:58:34 9.08 pace
24661 Tara Covet 1st marathon 4.41.19
24715 Kris Wolfe 1st marathon 6.00.05 13.45 pace
26006 Gene Gaunt 5:50:55 13.24 pace

Way to go 501'ers!! Can't wait to hear the stories when you get back!

Autistic Runner Excels At Boston Marathon

majoritymag.com

Autistic Runner Excels At Boston MarathonApril 21, 2009 – 8:34 am

Andy Bryant, 27, crossed the finish line at yesterday’s Boston Marathon in a time of 3 hrs 5 minutes and 19 seconds good enough to place him in the top 6% of the 20,000 runners in the race. That’s a great accomplishment in itself, but when you take into consideration that fact that Andy is severely autistic its actually pretty amazing. Lacking the understanding of how to pace himself, Andy usually just takes off as quick as he can and relies on sheer will and determination to maintain it for as long as possible; which in this case happened to be 26 miles!
Bryant plans to continue running marathons for many years to come and with continued training hopes to eventually break 3 hour mark. Judging from his determination, anything is possible.
-JH
photo via Seattle Times

Today's the Day!!! Boston Marathon Day!!

Here's a list of Asia's teammates from Marathoning 501 in Ann Arbor, MI who are racing today in Boston! Go 501'ers!! We are the wind at your backs!

Bib Number Name PR

5289 Patrick Carroll 3.09
5586 Coach Claudio Salas 3.10.36
6282 Coach Rob Morgan 3:13:01
7510 Coach Alex Walton (Seattle) 3.16.41
9854 Aaron Pratt 3.24.40
12805 Farsad Fotouhi 3.28
13201 Mary Gallagher 3.3014165 Rick Neubert 3:35
14891 Courtney Johnson 3.36:48
16257 Katie Sytniak 3:39:47
17868 Erika MacDonald 3:44:44
18854 Jen Fike 3.46.12
18857 Carmen Green-Lee 3:49:13
18909 Maria Sposita 3:49
24661 Tara Covet 1st marathon
24715 Kris Wolfe 1st marathon
26006 Gene Gaunt 3:505

Runman: Autistic man lives to run - Andrew Bryant running the Boston Marathon

Runman: Autistic man lives to run - Andrew Bryant running the Boston Marathon

How Asia Got to the Marathon

This was submitted it CNN's iReport, as a continuation of Asia's story, in honor of World Autism Awareness Day, which was April 2, 2009

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-242060

A little history......

As a Korean orphan with multiple disabilities, Asia began life with more than her share of challenges. Born with a bowel problem, Asia had surgery to create a colostomy when she was 13 days old. After spending most of her first 2 years shuttled between hospitals and orphanages, Asia was considered by the adoption agency to be too institutionalized to ever be able to bond with a family. However, a week before her 2nd. birthday, Asia joined my husband Jerry, our daughter Meghann, and I to become part of our family.

At 2 years of age, Asia couldn't roll from front to back, sit unsupported, crawl, stand or walk. She was nearly 28 months old when she learned to walk and almost immediately learned to run.

The years between 2 and 12 were a blur of misdiagnoses, surgeries, and failed treatments. She was eventually diagnosed as Autistically Impaired. Finally when she was 12 we began to find therapies which worked and she began to blossom.

When she was in middle school, we wanted to get her involved in a sports program. We approached the cross country coach and he agreed to have Asia in his program. The girls on the team were amazingly accepting and soon treated Asia like a younger sister.

By the time Asia entered high school she was on the "A" running squad and consistently earned points for her team. In 1996 she was selected to carry the Olympic Torch as it passed through Detroit. In her junior year the team won the Regional Championship and placed 12th at the State Cross Country meet.

Asia's coach encouraged the girls to run during the summer off season, and at the fall banquet gave awards to those who ran 500 miles, or a certain number of consecutive days. One year of consecutive days became 2, then 3, and on June 10, 2003 Asia completed 5 years of consecutive days of running.

Unlike some high school runners, who are done running as soon as they graduate, Asia continued to run every day, an average of 5 miles a day, and competed in local 5 and 10K races. She often finished in the top 5 in her age group.

In June 2006 we met Kathleen Gina after a race in Ann Arbor. Kathleen, or Coach Gina, is the head coach of the Running Fit 501 Marathon/Half Marathon Training Team. Her summer session still has openings and she invited us to the next practice to see if the team might be a fit for Asia. Coach Gina selected several runners with a pace similar to Asia's for the first run. After a short introduction and a group picture, they were off. Jerry and I raced to the 2 mile water stop, anxious to see how things were going. The comment we heard most was, "Boy, she's fast!"

We soon saw the huge, accepting spirit of the running community. Asia was embraced by the team as one of their own. They admired her dedication to running and her spirit. They began encouraging her to run the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon in October. Coach Gina arranged for a pace runner to make sure Asia made it safely across the Ambassador Bridge into Canada and back through the Windsor Tunnel to Detroit. We were at the finish line as Asia and Pacer Bob crossed the line in 2 hrs. 13 min. and 17 sec. It was another milestone for her, and it wouldn't have happened without The Running Fit 501 Team and Coach Gina.

It is now 2009 and Asia is in her 7th session training with "her" team. She has run 7 half-marathons now and 14 other races last year. I recently ran a total of Asia's miles since she joined the team nearly 3 years ago. Conservatively, she has run over 5,000 miles. And with the exception of a short injury break in 2003, she has run every day for the past 10 years. Since 2001 she has run in 70+ races.

Asia's 28th birthday is Saturday and on Sunday she will run her first Marathon....the Martian Marathon in Dearborn, MI. Two of her teammates, who are running in the Boston Marathon later this month, will run as her pacers.

We don't know where all this will take her, but we are grateful for the opportunities that being a member of a team again have given her. She has no plans for quitting, and as long as she wants to run, we'll get her to practice and to races. Asia continues to inspire us and everyone who meets her. In spite of her less-than-optimistic start in life, Asia is grateful for everything, and joyfully blooms where she is planted.

This photo is courtesy of Brightroom.com

Asia Runs her first marathon

On April 4, 2009, one day after Asia turned 28 years old, she ran her first marathon in Dearborn, MI at Running Fit's "Martian Marathon". What a great day, temperatures in the high 40s with sun and fun.

Read about Asia and her marathon here.