Oct. 9 marks the six-year anniversary of Ramblin’ Rose Chapel Hill at the UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont. As every year, our team watches with awe and excitement as women flock to our flagship event. The steadfast support of the Wellness Center and its lifestyle enhancement director, Kathy DeBlasio, has been a cornerstone of the event. I would be remiss in not pointing out that Kathy and her husband, Joe, our awesome race announcer, are tremendous supporters of all our events, not just Ramblin’ Rose Chapel Hill. With the DeBlasios and the center’s support, it’s no surprise that our Chapel Hill event sells out earlier and earlier each year.
Between Ramblin’ Rose Chapel Hill and the Duke Medicine Ramblin’ Rose Women’s Half-Marathon, nearly 3,000 women will take part in an Endurance Magazine event this month. When you factor in Ramblin’ Rose Charlotte, which took place Sept. 25 and saw more than 1,600 registered participants, that’s more than 4,600 stories of empowerment taking place in North Carolina in less than a month. As I write this note, the entire Endurance staff is bristling with excitement as we finalize details for our inaugural half-marathon and prepare to showcase the awesome Durham course to nearly 2,000 runners on Oct. 16.
I’m also excited to showcase an amazing story of empowerment brought to me by Debra Zacher, the wife of Joe Zacher, an amazing triathlete who has survived three brain tumors and was featured in our inaugural “Cancer Awareness” issue in July 2010. Debra’s friend Amy Carreira, a runner and mother of two, was recently diagnosed with not one but two brain tumors that required surgery. As she struggled to deal with diagnosis and impending treatment at Duke Hospital, she worried most about her children. Like a true runner, Amy found new meaning in an old marathon medal, and with the help of amazing doctors at Duke, pushed through and is now planning her next race.
Watching Deb and Amy ham it up on the photo shoot with Jessi Blakely, our great photographer on loan from Tamara Lackey Photography, it was evident the two inspire each other in their fitness lifestyles. It’s not surprising to note, as we do in our article “Healthy Habits Are Contagious,” people with similar habits flock together. While the research cited focused on people with unhealthy habits, I like to think Endurance has been on the leading edge of inspiring people with healthy habits to flock together like we do in our Ramblin’ Rose events and our Tar Heel 10 Miler coming up next April. Stay tuned for open registration.
In addition to producing great Endurance Magazine events for you to participate in, we showcase many more events in this issue as well as great resources for training and nutrition. To sign up for our events and to access an extensive list of events all over North Carolina be sure to visit our online registration site, www.SPORToften.com.
Inspire. Perform. Endure.
– Joe Nuss
