January was a relatively quiet month for the Baltimore Station team. On January 8th, we ran the Frozen Finger Five Mile race. It was a cold, snowy Saturday morning, and we were thankful that the race swag came in the form of a toasty pair of Baltimore Road Runners Club gloves! Residential member Roy T. ran a particularly fast race alongside Gina R., and BSTAT’s own training coach, Dan Miranda, took home second place! The five miler was our newest residential member Sam’s first race and his longest run to date. He ran the entire course and was absolutely glowing at the end.

This month we also started planning for spring marathon and half marathon training. We have many members planning to run the 2nd annual Nikia Nippy Nor’easter Half-Marathon in March and several hoping to complete the Delaware Marathon in May. We will begin training, including BOMF-Baltimore-wide Saturday long runs, the first weekend in February. Many runners attended marathon informational sessions led by Mike D. (THUMB) and Peter J. (MCVET) this month, where they received training schedules, learned about nutrition and injuries, and were given some race-day tips. All attendees reported that they learned a lot and are excited for the training season ahead!

BOMF-Baltimore’s second Orientation 2.0, which are intended to further educate non-residential members on addiction and homelessness, was held this month and several BSTAT members attended. Rob Aldrich, long-time BSTAT residential member, spoke at the event. Everyone enjoyed his funny, sweet, educational, and sincere story. As each event offers new stories, insights, and information, we look forward to future Orientation 2.0’s to be just as successful.

On January 30th, the Baltimore Station team will come together at non-residential member Katie N.’s home for food and some team fun. As always, we are excited to spend a bit of non-running time together as a team family.

Team Baltimore Station at the Frozen Finger Five Mile

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For the month of January, Allen S. was selected as the residential member of the month for Blair House and Houston E. was selected for the non-residential member of the month.  Allen only recently joined the Blair House team in December 2010, but by the end of January he had already completed a Saturday long run of 8 miles with Stephanie V., a rock star Back on My Feet volunteer, Blair House volunteer coordinator, as well as a member of the Ragnar Brigade for the Ragnar Relay race in DC.  Allen just recently suffered a minor ankle sprain but will hopefully be back out running the streets with his BOMF team soon enough!  We’re hoping to get him checked out by one of our two physical therapy partners, NOVA Pain and Rehab and Sports and Spine Rehab.

Houston  E., Blair House’s team coach has been doing a great job keeping the team running new routes, with hill workouts to show the guys just how fantastic running on flat ground actually is!  He and the entire core team at Blair have been a steady and supportive community for the residential members at Blair House, and Back on My Feet is so grateful for their efforts!

January was another big month for the women of N Street Village.  For starters, they welcomed three new members to the team - Helen, Carol and Deborah.  All the women have been a wonderful addition to the team and helped keep spirits high during a chilly January.

Mary Virginia A. was selected as the team’s residential member of the month, as well as the team captain!  Mary has been the most consistent runner at NSV, with 100% attendance and going strong for over 5 months!  She was also the first woman at NSV to run a race, the SOME Turkey Trot 5K.  She also participated in the Girls on the Run 5K in December, and is already gearing up for her spring training and race schedule!

We also had several women on the team attend the Accenture Skills to Succeed Seminar hosted by Accenture.  The program consisted of a professional development seminar, tips on presenting yourself well in job applications, on resumes and in a one-on-one interview.  The program was a resounding success, and Mary Virginia, Jackie and Robin all learned so many great skills that will be of help to them as they enter the workforce.

What a great month for the Dragons! RWA was well represented at January’s Pickle Run. Amongst the crowd of runners being led by a sassy man in a pickle suit, we had Maurice, Damien, Tony, Oba, Jessie, Krista, Mark, Kai, Michelle, Matt, Evan, Shira and Sarah. Despite Oba and Tony’s injuries, they both enjoyed their first race and finished strong. Tony was preparing to run the 5K but pushed past his comfort zone to go with the longer trail run. His final trail run time was only a few minutes off of his predicted time for the 5K! Damien also really pushed through, achieving his first race ever. As for Maurice… we may already have a marathon candidate on our hands.

Congrats to both Michelle and Krista for spotting those highly anticipated pickles along the trail. Additionally, congrats to Sarah for correctly answering one of the pickle man’s questions during the trivia portion of the morning. Special thanks to Mark, Sarah, and Shira for driving.

Our Dragon of the Month was the aforementioned Tony who, in addition to the 4.5 trail run, also took his first run up the Art Museum steps recently. He pushed himself all month long and the results were evident. Way to go, Tony!

Other exciting news includes Oba moving out of RWA! He seems to be really enjoying his new space in West Philly. Congratulations Oba! And congratulations, too, to Calvin, who starts his new job at Shoprite this weekend. Good for you, Calvin!

Back on My Feet Washington, DC, and particularly the members of the Clean and Sober Streets team, would like to give a huge Thank You! to NOVA Pain and Rehab.  Michael Moses (DC) and Hooman Hamidi have been very gracious to offer their time and services to help the BOMF runners deal with the (sadly inevitable) aches and pains that come along with being a dedicated runner.   All runners suffer from injuries and setbacks in their training and with the right help from the good people over at NOVA Pain and Rehab our members will be able to recover quickly.  Armed with the knowledge of how to stretch and strengthen themselves properly they will hopefully be able to avoid further injury in the future.

NOVA Pain and Rehab offers the most advanced and innovative treatment combining both traditional and alternative healthcare in a caring, ethical and professional environment.  They have multiple locations throughout the DC Metro area.

Marque E. was selected as the Clean and Sober Streets residential member of the month and Jean B was selected as the non-residential member of the month.  Marque was also selected to replace the ever supportive Ed J. as the team captain for CSS.  With 15 residential members now on the CSS team, the family there is huge!  Marque joined the team in December, but already his energy and encouraging attitude has impressed his fellow teammates.

For the January ‘race,’ CSS came in first place during the first annual Washington, DC SnOlympics event!  The event was held on the National Mall, with mother nature cooperating with a very healthy amount of snow (which led to an entirely unexpected impromptu snowball fight).  Overall team attendance is phenomenal, with over 90% of the members on the team at CSS maintaining a 90% attendance or better, and almost half of those with perfect attendance!

The good folks over at NOVA Pain and Rehab took time out of their schedule to examine a couple members of the CSS team.  A few strained calves and sore knees to go around, but nothing that will stop the members from running!

On Saturday, the Back on My Feet Philadelphia Chapter went to Ambler, PA to run the Frostbite 5 Miler! Despite the name, the temperature was perfect and we had plenty of sunshine; the biggest factor was the wind, which gusted to over 30 miles per hour. Our members remained tough and determined, pushing themselves up the rolling hills, many of which were into the wind. We had 10 residential and many non res members participate in the race. Congratulations go to our 2 first time racers Bob from St. John’s and Joe from RWA who not only ran their first race, but also ran their first 5 mile run! Thank you to everyone for driving and cheering on our runners.

Additional pictures can be found here.

We would like to offer a very special thank you to the Ambler Area Running Club for providing our members with complimentary entries as well as a matching provision to cover our additional runners. We would not have been able to participate in the race without their generosity. Our next race is the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon and 5k on March 27^th—hope to see you there!

The residential member of the month for Emery house is John C.!!  He’s a transfer from 801 East but has been a welcome addition to the Emery family! He battled back from a foot injury and came out just to walk when he couldn’t run. With winter, he’s been bundled up to his eyeballs but you can always see the smile in them. He helped Emery win SECOND PLACE at the SnOlympics, participating in every event except the tug-of-war.

The non-residential member of the month is Dion H.!  Dion, a long-time resident of the district,  has been running since former Mayor Fenty’s father owned a running store.  One of Emery house’s more experienced runners, Dion always has a warm smile and a great hug! Dion’s been particularly great about coming out in the cold and snow, and always had a welcomed word of caution regarding running on snow and ice.

As mentioned above Emery House placed second in the first annual Back on My Feet DC’s SnOlympics!  Fun times were had that day, and even funnier pictures were taken!

Gael, front and center, with her team

“We’re not bad people.  We’ve just lost our way.  Back on My Feet helps create a way.” – Bryson Alexander

I opened my email to find my daily update from Charlie; I can’t seem to live without them these days.  As I am in training for the Boston Marathon, I have decided to put my Monday morning runs with the team on hold until the end of April.   Charlie is aware of how much I miss them and have been sending me updates.  His emails are always peppered with humor and great knowledge and therefore, I crave them as I do my mocha java chip ice cream.

Yesterday’s email greeted me with the news of classes in which he had enrolled and his excitement about using them to enable his goals.  He ended his email with Bryson’s quote, “Gael, we are really not bad people.”  The dam broke.  After the tears came the anger.  No my friend, you are not bad people, none of you are and I feel pity for those who have labeled you as such.

I have a servant heart and I guess I expected everyone to see things the way I do; browse the contents of the book before tossing it back because of its cover.   When I signed up for my role at team leader for the BOMF teams St. Francis House and now Team Vets, it was not for the glory.  I simply did so because I love running; I have always volunteered my time in some way but never felt gratified, however, BOMF seemed like the perfect marriage and months later, I am head over feet.

Here is what you should know about these “bad people” – I called Jeff to inform him of a canceled run and chatted about what he was up to.  He was in Borders, working on his paper for school.  Bryson is registered for an accredited four-year college in Boston and has signed a lease,  John K has moved into his own home,Lenny is taking classes for lab work at renown hospital in Boston, Charlie is enrolled in classes and has just completed his application for the Peace Corps, Andy is going through our Next Steps program,  John P. is working hard at accomplishing a 5K in under 18 minutes, Ken and Sandy are very new to our team but I am sure they will soon be inspired by the progress around them .

All of them have taken chances that did not work in their favor; all of us have done so many times.  I admire their bravery to admit that they are ready for a change and their commitment and dedication to see it through.  Before you cast that stone, please walk a mile in their shoes; literally.  Every line on their faces, every twinkle in their eyes, and the smile of what’s to come tells their story and I dare you to open up yourselves to reading their books.