“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” – And a Bit of Context…
Running across the North African Sahara this past April, I pushed myself beyond my capabilities. I wrote previously about my experience in the Marathon Des Sables and how it has clarified my future (See the Blog: A line in the sand).
It is well understood at this point that regular exercise can slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease and I am confident that in my case it has. To keep myself engaged in regular daily exercise, I find it extremely helpful, to have on the horizon, a committed physical challenge, that necessitates cardio intensive training, (you know something to get my a** out of bed in the morning).
So…..it was only a few days after my return from the Sahara, when I started thinking about new horizons and the next chapter.
One of the positives of having this terrible disease, is that I have had the great fortune, through my involvement in the Parkinson’s community, to meet so many inspiring people.
This got me thinking back to 2015 when I was just starting to get more involved in the community. I had mainly done some solo events including a few Olympic triathlons and an Iron Man, when I participated in a 50 mile relay in the Mohonk Preserve in NY called Rock the Ridge for Team Fox. This race was remarkable in several dimensions; It’s the only running relay I have ever done (I have done a few triathlon relays). Several of my teammates had Parkinson’s and I learned a lot from them. I certainly can’t speak for all the runners, but I felt connected to everyone in a more meaningful way than I had in previous events, there was a bond of sorts, which still resonates today. It was a special event.
So I wondered if it would it be possible to put together a team of people with Parkinson’s and find an incredible challenge to take on together?
It’s late April, and as I am researching various races across the US, the Blue Ridge Relay keeps coming up as well run and reviewed race that’s incredibly difficult, yet with an off-the-grid beautiful course, a hidden gem kind of thing. Training will be tight, with barely 4 months until the 35 hour race, that considers “all others a warm up,” and has a whopping ~17k feet of ascent over 208 miles. But more of a concern is if we can put together a team of 12 people with Parkinson’s, to take this race on, in that time-frame? The early money was squarely against it happening, especially because we need fast runners who can handle hills…. I really wasn’t sure myself.
Closing out the first week of team building, sadly, Ethan Henderson who was with me on this from the beginning, had to drop out for a very important family event. However, during the same period, 3 incredible people joined, forming the beginning of Team Synapse.
First Team Members:
Rhonda Foulds from Texas, was diagnosed in 1999 and completed her 100th marathon in 2020 (& over 200 1/2 marathons too) and she’s still going strong, completing a 24-hour run and several additional marathons in the last few months alone. Wow!
Joe Drake from Seattle who was a fellow 2021 London marathon teammate, fellow engineer and as I learned later, running all of the world major marathons in a row, just like me. We are both slated to complete the final World Major in Tokyo in 2023. Joe was diagnosed in 2018. Did I mention he’s a recent author?
Peter Leech of Lake Forest, IL -who I met in the summer of 2018, shortly after his diagnosis. After being connected, we realized we had so much in common even our families have become good friends. Peter has an incredible streak of work-outs with over 700 days in a row, as well as running numerous marathons from New York & Chicago to London & Berlin.
So, we are out of the blocks on the Team formation nicely……
The race “sells” out every year, so we had to make a quick decision to sign up with only 4 team members or wait until we had a better read on the team development, which might put our ability to do the race at risk. Everyone agreed we would go for it and on May 16th Team Synapse was officially registered as a 12 person team. If you register they will come??
Fortunately, we started adding team members, organically, at an incredible clip, so by the time we got around to publicly sharing the opportunity in July, we had already confirmed 11 runners and two support volunteers, leaving only one spot open.
Chris Lion from Texas runs TheQuiver.org which promotes art by and for PWP, oh and Chris can be found running marathons too, Chris was diagnosed in 2018
Renee Trent from Virginia “found out she is pretty good at running “ after her diagnosis in 2017 now winning races in her age group and qualifying for Boston, she also loves to run the hills and we love that!
Scott Fernandez from St. Charles, IL started running in 2001 to support his daughters recovery from leukemia and has since run 18 marathons, completed two Iron Man competitions and much more, Scott was diagnosed in 2021 ….. he’s also a pilot
Jacqui Sukie is from Akron Ohio and was diagnosed in 2012 after having symptoms in 2008, Jacqui is a fitness and spinning instructor and has run multiple half marathons and the NY Marathon. Jacqui attributes both exercise and nutrition as key to slowing the progression of Parkinson’s
Jared Koch is from Illinois and took up running a while after his diagnosis nine years ago and since has run several full & half marathons including the Chicago Marathon twice…Jared is a chef so we’re looking forward to the pre and post-race meals!
Greg O’Keefe is from Las Vegas and was diagnosed at the age of 46 and while running took the backseat for a few years Greg is getting back into it and has run a half marathon and multiple Spartan races for trifecta status including the Sprint, Super, and Beast events
Jason Kopacz is from Minnesota and was diagnosed in 2014, Jason has recently ramped up his exercise routines and has completed three marathons in seven months including Boston 2022. Jason does kickboxing, HIIT, strength, Pelton and running to slow the progression of PD.
We didn’t confirm our 12th runner, Steve Eury, who has been living well with Parkinson’s by staying active, including obstacle course races and 5k’s, until the first of August, but it was worth the wait. Not only did we pick up a great team member in Steven, but his wonderful fiancé Allison Toepperwein, who is recovering from an ankle injury, has graciously agreed to fill-in as an alternate. Yes you heard it right, both Steven and Allison have Parkinson’s and they’re engaged to be married in the fall. If Allison is not filling in for someone, stay tuned for some live race reporting.
We are also extremely thankful to have two incredibly experienced volunteers to help us with driving the support vehicles, logistics and everything in between, both Janet Vickers and Laura McCauley will be taking good care of the team and have provided great guidance through the process.
Check out the video to hear more directly from the Team
This truly is an unbelievable and unprecedented team, everyone has such amazing stories and I am continually inspired by the team’s positive perspective, work ethic, fearlessness and humility. I started to think of everyone as a group of superheroes, which they are. Please click on the image for more about each of our team members.
So the stage is set for an epic adventure in the Blue Ridge Mountains, on September 9th and 10th.
Team Synapse’s 12 runners with Parkinson’s will take on the Blue Ridge relay, competing against 150+ other teams as well as the clock.
The entire team has been training incredibly hard, not only for speed and distance but for running the hills.
The race begins at the base of Mount Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia and finishes in Asheville North Carolina. Each runner will take on three separate segments, rotating in order, ensuring everyone will have running segments during the day and night, in varying conditions and distances.
The outcome of this race is by no means a certainty. It will take everything the team has to complete it in under 35 hours, which equates to a less than 10 minute mile pace for the entire 208 miles + 17,000 feet of ascent. This is going to be incredibly hard!
Accordingly, Team Synapse has set an aggressive goal of raising $100,000 for Team Fox of the Michael J Fox foundation for Parkinson’s, where 100% of all donations go directly to research.
The team is also focused on raising awareness for the importance of regular exercise for living well with Parkinson’s Disease.
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Team Synapse is also looking for sponsors and media opportunities, please send all inquiries and opportunities to: uncorkedadventures@outlook.com
