RAMMS Indianapolis Marathon, Half, 5K & Virtual
(Best enjoyed on computer or tablet due to large quantity of fun photos!)
It was a magical feeling for Run A Myelin My Shoes (RAMMS) to finally gather together after two years of interruption! Our last in-person event was in Richmond 2019 and our 2020 event was all virtual. On November 6, 2021, fifty-three of us met for the Indianapolis Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K. We were joined by our family and friends who were our faithful cheerleaders throughout the weekend.
Teammates; however, had safety concerns. Almost all of us are on disease modifying therapies. Many felt anxious about traveling and being sandwiched in a crowded starting line, so a lot of teammates opted to be virtual. Also, about a dozen people made the tough decision to convert their in-person Indy registration to virtual.
We still crushed previous year records, though. We had an astounding 401 virtual teammates representing 23 countries and Antarctica. Yes, an MS Warrior traveled to Antarctica and ran for the team! We touched all seven continents for the third time in our short history.
Indianapolis Activities
Ryan Piner and Ryan Weller helped Brian and me plan meet-ups in Indy. Of course, Brian scouted out all the local craft breweries, and the two Ryans led activates like a shake-out run and coffee, an expo gathering, game time at an arcade, and pre-race donuts and coffee.
Miranda Whitworth from Thuasne USA planned our fabulous post-race celebration at a German-themed restaurant. The event was co-sponsored with Hanger Clinic. It was a much better idea to hold a party after the race because everyone was able to relax (plus we had two drink tickets each!) In the past, we had pre-race carboloading dinners and that can be tough because of pre-race nerves or pressure to say good-night early because of having to prepare for the run.
Hanger Clinic hired a PR firm to promote our story and, boy, did the agent work hard! RAMMS touched every major TV network (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW), plus we interviewed for the Indy Star newspaper. Of significance, when the CBS crew came out to one of our restaurant meetups, a young woman asked the reporter about the hype. He said he was covering a group of runners living with MS and he pointed to me. The woman introduced herself and said, with tears in her eyes, that she is 23-years-old and newly diagnosed. Tears welled in my eyes and Brian’s, too. We spoke briefly and I gave her a team visor to remember us. RAMMS made a positive impression because she is now part of the team!
Indianapolis Teammates
We gathered at 7:00AM inside a warm hotel near the start line. Several teammates met face-to-face for the first time and it was wonderful to put a voice to a name after years of bantering over our private Facebook page. Miranda filmed interviews (see awesome video here) and Mike Benning from Hanger shot some excellent group photos. We disbanded promptly at 7:30AM, wished each other luck, and separated to leave clothing at the bag drop and line up in our assigned corrals.
I personally did not use bag drop. It was in the low 30’s at the start and I wanted to keep every single layer of clothing! However, I did shed clothes along the way. There was a 30 degree increase in weather during my 5 hours of running. It’s tough to manage such a wide swing in temperature, especially as a person with MS who is sensitive to both cold and heat!
Ellie Tillotson also had a tough time at her half marathon. It wasn’t necessarily the heat, but her foot drop is worse and the situation was not helped by the ruddy, cruddy roads. The city streets were riddled with potholes and Ellie was constantly running around them. I found the holes difficult, too, as well as the strong camber. There were long stretches where runners were squished into one lane while traffic zoomed right next to us. There was no chance to move towards the middle of the road where it was flatter. But we persisted. Unfortunately, Ellie fell hard with less than a mile to the finish line. Being the MS Warrior, though, she ran a redemption half marathon in DC the next weekend!
Taylor ran an outstanding first marathon in under 5 hours and Caryl Pawlusiak smashed her previous marathon time by 10 minutes. After a tough year of training and losing weight, Ginny Modlin proudly completed the half marathon. Each and every single member of RAMMS (14 marathoners, 23 half marathoners and 16 5Kers) were huge winners that day!
I did not request permission to share this story (thus no names included). I was contacted by a woman a couple of months before Indy. Her 16-year-old daughter was diagnosed with MS. The family learned about RAMMS on the Finish MS website and they wanted to be part of our group. The family did not attend any of the RAMMS activities and I don’t know if it is because our meetups did not align with their plans or if it was too emotionally difficult for the daughter, but I do hope the notion of a team of MS Warriors and Supporters gave them some positive reinforcement as they move forward in their MS journey together.
RAMMS Virtual Teammates
Our big numbers were because of our incredible sponsor Thuasne. They worked hard to recruit employees around the world to do an activity in solidarity with RAMMS. Thuasne wanted to take part in our mission to promote exercise in MS. Employees in China, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and UK ran, walked, cycled and hiked. The team in France had a goal to cumulatively run 422 kilometers (a marathon is 42.195 kilometers) and they surpassed it with 442 kilometers! The Thuasne sales representative in Japan met our perennial teammates from Japan MS Society to walk around Asakusa (notably, they did their event twice because team shirts arrived a week late and they were so kind to go out again wearing the new shirts). The office in Slovakia got together for a group run (complete with jumping jacks and push-ups as warm-up exercises) and a couple even did a dip in a freezing cold lake (see their video here)! The team in Germany came up with a creative relay where they featured the SpryStep AFO as the baton. And the Thuasne USA Headquarters in Bakersfield held their second annual 5K run and 1K walk, with 85 employees taking the afternoon off to enjoy a gloriously sunny day in California (I mention this as I write this blog post in the midst of a dark Pacific Northwest winter!). RAMMS is so grateful for Thuasne’s support and for giving a huge boost to the team!
BOA, the company that invented a revolutionary dial system that you may recognize on your cycling shoes or bracing support, had an employee gathering (orchestrated by Elice Straup) to support RAMMS. They mapped out a 5K route around their headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. They enjoyed a post-race party that included pizza and in-house craft beer (wish we were there). Plus, handmade medals were presented to top place finishers. BOA also generously donated to our DIY MS fundraiser for the MS Society. That is absolutely cool and RAMMS is so happy to have BOA as part of our extended family.
Our worldwide virtual teammates, who are MS Warriors or love someone with MS, participated in many activities. Some partook a live event: Heather Goodrich ran the Disney 10K with her Alinker (appropriately named Cinderella); Sue Moss ran one of her speediest to date at the Richmond Half Marathon; Kelly Irving earned what she calls the “most beautiful medal” at the NYC Marathon and Paul Josephson ran in one of the most beautiful cities in the world at the Paris Marathon. Others did something convenient and COVID-safe from their home: Kathy Young did a HITT session; Carrie Klypchak flowed through three consecutive yoga sessions; Cheryl Luyster sweated it out on her rowing machine; and Dalia Roman peddled away on her stationary bike from the comfort of her living room in Puerto Rico. Most virtual teammates ran or walked on a road or trail close to home, like RAMMS veteran Jade Hartland who is fortunate to have Table Mountain in her backyard! Other mini-RAMMS teams rocked their virtual events together like Roe Collopy’s party crew, Lauren Hyland’s unicorn blessing (this harkens back to our RAMMS 5 for 5 Enchanted Unicorn Forest), and Shannon Zimmerman and Nicole Starrs’ homegrown kick MS butt biathlon!
Virtual teammates added some unique and new exercises to add to our growing list of activities. Tim Salmon paddled on his prone board along the shores of Carlsbad, CA in the Northern Hemisphere while Pedro paddled his canoe in Sambaqui Beach, Brazil in the Southern Hemisphere. Sheri Paulson was out on the fields grain carting her corn harvest. Mike Marie, a long-time MS Support Hero who lives with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, walked 3 miles backwards and 3 miles sideways on the treadmill in honor of RAMMS. In the meantime, Phoebe Walker was busy in a studio choreographing a ballroom dance specially for the team and you can see her “Dance A Myelin My Shoes” here. And I don’t know what kind of sporting category we can classify this, but Christine Arno from Canada walked miles up and down the Las Vegas Strip taking photos of her team shirt against amusing backdrops!
A teammate from Illinois who joined RAMMS in 2020 has been struggling terribly with foot drop. Her pace is 7:00 miles for the marathon, but cannot run even close to her to top speed without tripping and falling. She registered for the marathon, but could not train properly. She opted to switch to Indy’s virtual Marathon in a Month program. This idea motivated a new teammate from Virginia who is also struggling with foot drop to also take on the Marathon in a Month challenge. These ladies exemplify the mission of RAMMS: We support each other as athletes with MS and we encourage people to exercise to the best of their abilities!
Fundraising
This year, our RAMMS fundraiser fell under MS Society’s DIY MS platform. We were in “competition” (because you know I’m competitive!) with golf tournaments, a couple of guys running 100 miles (they don’t have MS), a motorcycle event, and our dear friends from Crawl for a Cure (a spectacular off-road vehicle event). We placed 7th overall for athletic teams with a total of $38,630 raised for 2021. (We have raised over $90,000 from 2018-2021)
This was our highest fundraising year and it was fueled by MS Support Hero Ralph Hansen from North Dakota. He was a perennial participant at Bike MS, but his local event was discontinued. Instead of stopping his fundraising efforts, Ralph joined RAMMS. He cycled over 1,800 miles during the year and raised $8,775 in honor of his wife and the team.
Carrie Klypchak’s fundraiser is probably the most creative we’ve seen on our team, which is expected since she is a Professor of Theatre at Texas A&M Commerce. For the Fall season, Carrie directed the play “In the West” and her department paid the royalties by donating to RAMMS. That is super cool!
A few of us raised over $1,000: The Broerman Family, Meegan Jones (she ran in Antarctica!), Caryl Pawlusiak, Ryan Piner, Cindy Rose, and me. RAMMS is made up of a lot of movers and shakers. Many teammates already manage their own Bike MS, Walk MS or DIY teams, or they fundraise for other charities. I am very appreciative to every single person who spent time and energy funding for RAMMS.
I am also filled with gratitude of all the donors who flooded our fundraising page. Several teammates made magnanimous donations: The Earp Family, Ralph Hansen, The Jordan and Fillip Families, Maureen Kenney, Carrie and Brad Klypchak, Nancy Lee, Robert and Alicia Moore, Kristen and Cameron Snapp, and Jeff Urschler and Cindy Eisenlohr, plus a shoutout to Caryl’s Aunt Angela! Every donation is a step closer to a cure.
By the Numbers
- 454 total teammates
- 139 MS Warriors, 127 MS Support Heroes and 188 Special Supporters from Thuasne and BOA Technologies.
- 53 teammates met in Indianapolis, IN
- 401 were virtual teammates from all 7 continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America, and South America.
- Virtual teammates represented 23 Countries + Antarctica: Argentina, Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Paraguay, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Wales and USA
- 45 US States + DC: AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NV, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV and WY
- 3 Canadian provinces: AB, NB, ON (NB teammate did her event in NS!)
- Worldwide MS organizations that promoted RAMMS: Japan, Paraguay, Portugal and USA
Thank You and Next Event
All of this organization could not be done without the help of many players.
As mentioned above Hanger Clinic and Thuasne co-sponsored our fabulous post-race celebration (and all arrangements were made by Miranda). They also sponsored our premium quality shirts, plus shipping. The comfortable shirts are really valued because we all know how uncomfortable those cheap-o running shirts with the rough seems can be. We were certainly the best-looking team out there on race morning and around the world!
Mailing team shirts is a huge job. So, I am exceptionally grateful Hanger Clinic and Thuasne funded drop-shipping so that the shirt vendor could mail shirts directly to teammates in the US and Canada. It saved Brian some work. This round, Brian sent 56 packages and went to the post office 5 times, which is less than previous years. When we lived in Pacific Grove, we found out postal clerks are monitored based on how many customers they help per hour. We completed the customs form online for all the international packages so the clerk would not have to manually enter them. After 4 years of mailing, Brian is still learning and trying to improve his system.
MS Support Heroes Adam and Allie Hogan of Full Implant Choice in Virginia Beach sponsored shipping costs for all those domestic and international packages that Brian mailed. Furthermore, the couple sponsored awesome team-branded visors to top off our running outfits in Indy!
MS Society also helped with reimbursing costs for team shirt postage. Plus, Shannon Feeney from the Society spent time writing the instructions for the registration page on the RAMMS website. I had a really hard time organizing and putting together my thoughts. This task should have been very easy, but I was flustered. Cog fog is a symptom of MS that I am still trying to accept and I am lucky to have such understanding support from the Society.
Teammates’ quotes used in this post really inspires me to keep the team running (pun intended!). Their energy has also motivated me to make our 5th anniversary in 2022 extra special. Our next event will be at the Baltimore Running Festival on October 15, 2022. Plus, we will have our worldwide virtual team. Learn how to join here.
