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---- Wendy Nunnery, Kingwood Fit Organizer
I would like to share a personal story. Our very first year as Kingwood Fit, I had a member join that I remembered well. He was somewhat loud and he asked a lot of questions. He was an older man and he appeared not to be in very good shape. I remember thinking to myself, "I wonder if this man can do this". He later explained that he had permission from his doctor. (He had been seeing his doctor for his diabetes and he had suffered a heart attack.)
His name was Bill and he became a permanent fixture on our Saturday runs. He would usually come in last and sometimes we would have to wait for him after the seminar. This man never gave up and he did complete the marathon his first year.
The next year, he called me and volunteered to be an asst, coach. He wanted to be able to tell people like him that they could also finish a marathon. I would meet him in the evenings to hand out Gatorade and he would help put out the Gatorade coolers and pick them up after runs. About half way through the season, his part time job of making fishing rods picked up and he was traveling to Louisiana a lot so I didn’t see much of him on Saturday. However, come Marathon day, he was at the start line, heading out with the walkers and he finished the marathon again.
He signed up again for our 3rd year and came to our first coaches meeting and I didn’t hear from him again until almost 2 months into the season. He had bad news. He told me he had Leukemia and he needed a favor. Kingwood Fit held a blood drive for him and many members came out to donate blood.
Unfortunately Bill lost his battle with Leukemia on July 17th. At the funeral the pastor talked about his marathon for his life. This was his final run. As I passed by his casket, Bill was wearing his medal and below his fishing rods, on his tackle box sat his running sneakers with his purple USA FIT shoe tag.
This program meant so much to Bill. It changed his life and touched everyone that knew him. I am so proud to be a part of this, and that I can pass it on to other people.
---- Wendy
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