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Most Memorable Marathon Experience

After running 50 marathons, I finally ran one in my hometown of St. Louis. I had relocated to Texas 25 years earlier. The final miles of the marathon ran right past the old site of some high-rise projects. We lived there during my early childhood. The projects had been replaced by low rise apartments.

As I passed, some Black children decided to run along with me. It made me think about how far I had progressed in my life. It also made me think that race directors may (unknowingly) have a positive impact on Black children by routing courses through our neighborhoods. And Black marathoners may have an additional impact on the Black children by participating in those races and providing scholarships. The National Black Marathoners' Association can make that happen.

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Tony Reed: How I Became The First Black Runner To Complete Marathons On All Seven Continents

RunnersWorld.com - First Person Blog

July 17, 2007

On the eve Kenya’s Safaricom Lewa Marathon, I was a nervous wreck. This race would be the final jewel in my quest to run a marathon on all seven continents (7C). As the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the National Black Marathoners’ Association (NBMA), I felt that it was fitting for Africa to be the grand finale. Hundreds of people were awaiting the results of the race. I was also nervous because I may be the first Black in the world to accomplish the 7C feat.

Since my first marathon in 1982, I’ve counted the number of Blacks in the races. Occasionally, I was the only one. Anytime there were more than ten Blacks, I felt happy. Thus, running in a predominately Black marathon would be very different. As the only Black, I’ve felt that my failure to finish would leave a negative impression about American Blacks and the discipline to complete distance races. I especially felt this pressure during Antarctica’s Last Marathon in February. I was the lone Black runner on the “white continent.” I don’t think my friends would have let me live it down, if I had quit the race.

As I as laid in my tent, I thought about the warnings from the pre-race meeting. We faced a dangerous mixture of high altitude (5,200 ft.), dry air, and heat. Hyponatremia, the dilution of sodium by over-hydrating with water, was a risk before and during the race. Fortunately, I’ve trained in the Texas heat for 30 years. And I ran the New Mexico (5,800 ft.) and Salt Lake City (4,800 ft.) Marathons without any problems. Thus, I thought about the new, more challenging obstacles; wild animal attacks.

The day before the race, we saw three cheetahs, two rhinos, and a zebra herd on the marathon course. The animals would be roaming freely during the race. After all, it was their home and I was just a visitor. As the cheetahs walked by the race marker, I asked our guide, “How often do they eat?” He replied, “They’re excellent hunters and work as a team to easily bring down a zebra. It would provide enough food for about three days.” I hoped that there would be one less zebra before tomorrow’s race. I realized that I couldn’t control the weather or the wild animals, so I stopped worrying about them. Instead, I focused on what I could control; me. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep.

On race day, I got on my running groove while listening to Parliament/Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop and Chocolate City. During the ride to the starting area, I didn’t see any animals. But, I did notice the airplanes.

At the starting line, I marveled at being surrounded by hundreds of Black runners. It didn’t matter that I didn’t speak their language. I felt good just being there. It was like being at my first family reunion. I didn’t know anyone, but the closeness was in the air. I saw groups of school children in their team colors straining behind the tape to watch us start. They were also awaiting the start of their own race.

When the race started, I felt like the entire NBMA was running vicariously with me. We had just finished another successful gathering at the May, 2007 Rite-Aid Cleveland Marathon. The veteran runners noted that I may be the first Black to complete the seven continents goal.  Realizing that about 200 people had completed this goal, it was a real possibility.

Midway up a long curving the hill, my eyes began to tear up. As I looked in front and behind me, I saw a long stream of Black runners. In 25 years of running 86 marathons and 150 races, I had never seen this many Blacks in a distance race. Unforgettable.

After the first loop, hundreds of half marathoners turned off towards their finish line. Suddenly, the marathoners were alone. After participating in marathons with thousands of runners and cheering spectators, skyscrapers, and TV helicopters, the solitude (with the exception of an occasional buzz) was a welcome relief. This is what long distance running is all about; enjoying nature in all its beauty. The runners and crowds were transformed into waves of blowing grasses. The skyscrapers became majestic mountains. And the TV helicopters were replaced by the prop planes. They “buzzed” the wild animals to keep them away from the course.

Around 40K, I reached the safety of the compound’s fenced area. I decided to finish the marathon alone. I wanted to savor the moment and reflect on the challenges that I had to overcome to reach that pinnacle. Who would have imagined that a Black, non-athletic, inner city kid from St. Louis would have run 87 marathons in 25 States and seven continents, including Antarctica? This went against the odds. But then, so has so many things in my life.

I gathered myself together and crossed the finish line as (possibly) the first Black in the world to join the exclusive Seven Continents Club. I topped off my adventure by having Paul Tergat  autograph a copy of his biography, “Paul Tergat – Running to the Limit.”

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Some Cold Feet, But No Weak Knees - Antarctic Marathon Part Of Area Runners' Romp With The Penguins

Story By Debbie Fetterman

The Dallas Morning News

Friday, March 16, 2007

Four area runners traveled and ran marathons together in Antarctica on Feb. 26 and in South America on March 6.   Fort Worth cardiologist Stephen Hudgens, Arlington 's Gillian Brewer, Dallas ' Tony Reed and Keller's Jill Parker first met while running the Great Wall of China Marathon in May 2006.

The runners were part of a Marathon Tours group that traveled to Buenos Aires , Argentina , on Feb. 19. Then they endured blizzard conditions to complete the Antarctica Marathon last month. They spent a few days recovering and sightseeing before returning to Ushuaia , Argentina , for the Fin Del Mundo Marathon earlier this month.

Four other area runners also completed the Antarctica Marathon. Barbara Schultz, 36, of Allen, finished in 4 hours, 59 minutes, 39 seconds. She was first among the area's eight runners, second among all women in the race. Schultz also met other area runners participating, including Keith Adabie, 42, his wife Judith, 37, and Southlake's Bart Bybee, 45.

"It is interesting to go halfway around the world to meet someone who lives less than 25 miles from where you actually live," Reed, 51, said.

Conditions were tough, said Keith Adabie of Dallas . He and his wife were celebrating their wedding anniversary with a cruise to Antarctica .  "We'll eventually get to seven continents," he said. "It's not a goal to get it done right now. We've done the easiest one, in North America, and the hardest one [ Antarctica ]."

Most of the area runners are attempting to become members of the Seven Continents Club. Marathon Tours, a Boston-based company, created the Antarctica Marathon in 1975 to enable runners to complete a marathon on every continent.

The race was held every other year until demand increased. The 2007 Antarctica Marathon sold out in August 2005. The 2008 race is sold out, and Antarctica race director Thom Gilligan said he anticipates the 2009 race being full by June.

Schultz said she registered in 2005. She wasn't sure she'd be able to go. Knee surgery last year considerably reduced the pain she has experienced in her knees. Hudgens, 51, an ultra marathoner, finished Antarctica in 5:08:15. He shaved more than an hour off his time for the Fin Del Mundo Marathon in Ushuaia. He's considering an ultra such as the 89K Comrades Marathon in South Africa for his seventh continent.

Brewer, 58, a burn nurse at Parkland Hospital , finished Antarctica in 5:23:37. Then she broke four hours in Argentina (3:55:35). Parker, 37, works for Fed Ex. She spent the most time in the challenging weather with a 7:54:20 finish in Antarctica and a 6:48 finish in Argentina .

Brewer and Parker plan to run the Safaricom Marathon, an event held on a game reserve in Kenya in June. Reed said he is still deciding when he'll run his marathon in Africa .

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Promoting Healthier Lives - Distance Runner Reed's Individual, Collective Goals Lead Him to Cincy

The Cincinatti Enquirer
Monday, April 25, 2005
By Colleen Kane, Enquirer Staff Writer

Tony Reed points to the numbers distributed by the American Heart Association during Black Heritage Month.

Forty percent of African-American women and 41 percent of African-American men have cardiovascular disease, with a 1.5 percent greater rate of heart disease death than Caucasians because of higher blood pressure. Of African-Americans, 68.3 percent of women and 58.4 percent of men are overweight, and 46 percent of men and 57.1 percent of women are sedentary, "with no leisure-time physical activity." Reed also points out figures from the American Diabetes Association that state that 11.7 percent of African-Americans have diabetes.

Reed is determined not to be one of those numbers, so he puts up a big number of his own - 65, as in marathons run.

Reed, a 49-year-old Dallas CPA, college accounting teacher, Texas Instruments IT consultant and executive director of the National Black Marathoners' Association, will run his 66th marathon Sunday at the Flying Pig Marathon. After reaching his goal of running 50 marathons by his 50th birthday a couple years early, he is running a marathon a month during his 50th birthday year, including one July 3 in Australia - his 50th birthday (July 2 in the U.S.).

It's all part of his way to stay healthy. As a child, Reed was diagnosed with glucosuria, a condition where glucose is found in the urine. Doctors told him that by age 20 he would probably have to take insulin. As a high school student, Reed worked with a cook at a barbecue restaurant that lost an eye and a leg to diabetes.

So he began to focus on staying active, playing sports in high school and then running his first marathon in 1982. He has yet to take insulin. Now he's hoping to help other African-Americans. He founded the NBMA after meeting other runners at a national conference for the Black Data Processing Associates.

"We talked about the fact that many of us had medical issues that led us to running," Reed said. "None of us wanted to experience those things, so we'd try to go running three or four days a week." The idea for a national organization that would promote healthy living through distance running was born and began to take shape this December.

"We want to get more African-Americans involved in a healthy lifestyle, to turn off the television," Reed said. "There's a lack of involvement in fitness activity. There's the idea that when people get out of high school and college instead of participating in sports, they watch sports."

The NBMA has already gained support in 18 states with official membership for the no-dues organization nearing 200, with an average age of 43, Reed said. They plan to meet in September at the Lewis and Clark Marathon in St. Charles, Mo., where they will wear the same color jersey to help inspire others.

But Reed also wants more. Recently, he returned to his hometown for the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon, which ran by the site of the housing projects in which he grew up. As he ran by, a group of young black children started running with them. "I thought if we could somehow instill fitness in the minds of young kids. If they see us out there, then as they get older they will also want to stay active," he said.

So the NBMA has set up a fund that will award a scholarships to senior high school distance runners, promoting both fitness and education, Reed said. The group has also talked to an educator in Washington D.C. about starting fitness programs in inner-city schools.

Until then, Reed keeps running, thinking of one of the many people he met in one of his many marathons along his journey. "He said he stopped watching sports on television. He said, 'In the time I spend watching athletes on television, I can become my own athlete.' So whenever he wants to look at an athlete, he looks in the mirror," Reed said. "There's too much worshipping the athletes on TV. We can be our own athletes."

Article Side Bar

NATIONAL BLACK MARATHONERS' ASSOCIATION

What: An organization created in December to encourage black Americans to pursue a healthy lifestyle through long-distance running.
Members: About 175 in 18 states, according to Reed.
Events: Meeting at this September's Lewis and Clark Marathon in St. Charles, Mo.
Fees: None, although people are encouraged to donate to the scholarship fund, which will award scholarships to high school seniors who participate in running events longer than 1,500 meters. (Deadline for application is May 15.)
Visit: www.Blackmarathoners.org

Others: The Avondale Running Club, which coordinates weekend runs, monthly meetings and a Flying Pig water station.
Visit www.avondalerunningclub.com

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Healthy Gains for Black Runners

The Cincinatti Enquirer - Editorial
Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Dallas CPA Tony Reed has run 65 marathons and, in the process, outrun diabetes. When he competes in Sunday's Flying Pig Marathon, he'll be running with a message: African-Americans are at high risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, and regular exercise, such as running, can help cut those risks.

As founder and president of the National Black Marathoners' Association, Reed is zigzagging the nation to underscore numbers that he thinks are too often overlooked. African-Americans have one of the highest rates of hypertension in the world. In the United States, they have the greatest risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke of any ethnic group. Now, better than 40 percent of African-American adults have cardiovascular disease, and more than 100,000 will die of heart attacks or strokes each year.

Reed knows the statistics on diabetes even more intimately. As a child, he was diagnosed with a pre-diabetic condition and told he'd be taking insulin by the time he was 20. To keep it at bay, he ran. Now, still insulin-free, he competes to let people know that nearly 12 percent of African-Americans have diabetes and many more are at high risk of it, including many children.

These are numbers, he reminds black Americans, that they don't have to accept.

We applaud the black marathoners' association for taking on these health risks in an inspiring and engaging manner. They are challenging African-Americans to take their health into their own hands, to forgo being a spectator to others' athletic pursuits and to become athletes themselves. That's terrific advice for everyone.

The marathoners understand that fitness - and, conversely, lack of fitness - begin in childhood, and that once begun, either habit is hard to break. The association is promoting running among youth by sponsoring college scholarships for distance runners and by encouraging urban schools to do more to encourage fitness.

The group also understands that when it comes to health habits, children are better led than pushed. They're hoping to lure children to running by encouraging cities to include more children's events in marathon festivities and to promote those programs at inner-city schools.

The Flying Pig now features a health and activity clinic for children and the Kahn's Flying Piglet Fun Run that has activities for infants, toddlers and older children. A 5K run is especially geared to teenagers and older children.

Inclusiveness and visibility are keys to attracting minorities to sports. In recent years, such sports as golf and tennis have widened their participant base and their audience by having successful and widely known minority athletes. The black marathoners hope to raise their own visibility by wearing the same color of jerseys during races, and they hope more marathon courses will include African-American neighborhoods.

Hook young people into running, they believe, and the health benefits will last a lifetime.

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DIABETES HASN'T CAUGHT UP TO LOCAL MARATHONER

Story By Debbie Fetterman

The Dallas Morning News

Friday, March 4, 2004

Tony Reed of Dallas considers the Cowtown Marathon one of his main avenues to health. He has focused on staying fit since learning he had a pre-diabetic condition as a child. Reed, 48, attributes his diabetes-free state to his regular workout routine over the years. With last Saturday's Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth, Reed has completed 50 marathons in Texas. Last year, Cowtown became his 50th career marathon, a milestone he worked to achieve before age 50.

Reed, a TCU graduate student in the late 1970s, saw runners struggling through the ice storm in the inaugural Cowtown race 26 years ago. Four years later, he chose Fort Worth for his first marathon.  "I didn't realize it was one of the toughest courses in Texas when I first ran it," said Reed, who has run Cowtown 17 times. "I just figured if I can handle that, I can handle anything. They have actually made the course so much easier than it was in 1982. Running up the steep Hulen Street Bridge at 18 miles puts a 'hilly' course in perspective."