Stacy Stone after an early morning run on Friday, April 23 in Fishtown, Philadelphia. In a year with Back on My Feet, he has held a job, opened a bank account, reduced his smoking and run a half marathon, among other races. He will participate in the Broad Street Run this weekend.
Stacy Stone has lost track of how many races he has run.
This weekend, he’ll add another, by running the Broad Street Run, Philadelphia’s noted 10-mile, 30,000-person race. The resident at Brotherhood Mission who grew up around 33rd Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue in North Philadelphia will celebrate a full year running with Back on My Feet next month.
Stone will be among nearly 50 Back on My Feet Philadelphia members who run the storied race. Find a press release here about Stacey and the rest running the Broad Street Run.
“I just want to thank the whole Back on My Feet organization,” Stone says. “My teammates, my running coordinator, all the volunteers and people who work for Back on My Feet have helped me.”
In January, he earned a job with Goodwill’s ex-offender’s program and has kept it, winning warm reviews from his supervisors. Last month, Stone decided he wanted to tackle a smoking habit that he felt was slowing down his pace.
Then, he was finishing a pack in a couple days. He’s kept himself to a cigarette or two today and says quitting entirely doesn’t seem that impossible anymore.
“Smoking is slowing me down,” he says. “You need to have that second wind when you’re running, and it gets a lot easier when you smoke less.”
Because of a financial literacy class he entered through Back on My Feet, Stone has opened his first bank account.
“It feels good to know where the money came from, where the money is and where it’s going,” Stone says, laughing about the encouragement he got on that front from Back on My Feet Founder and President Anne Mahlum. “Anne really got on me about opening that account and using it, and now I am.”
He says he has his sights focused on the Philadelphia Marathon in the fall.
“I just need to stay focused,” he says.
Below, he talks about both accomplishments and his goal for this Sunday’s race.
[...] Nearly 50 Back on My Feet Philadelphia residential members completed the 2010 Broad Street Run Sunday morning, many for the first time, including Brotherhood Mission member Stacy Stone. [...]
so if you are having a hard time quitting in your unhealthy vices, all you need to do is to have some motivation and reason for doing it…this man think he need to quit smoking since it is slowing him down in his running activity..Isn’t it great?