"Sure, just don't go run a marathon right now." Those were the doctor's words of advice that made Rudy Acevedo laugh. He responded that he "wasn't that crazy."
That was six years ago and Acevedo was an out of shape, engineering consultant in his 40's. He decided then it was time to take back his health and his life. Acevedo had borderline high cholesterol and had just undergone foot surgery. He says he was starting to get concerned about his health so he asked his doctor if he could start working out on the treadmill and elliptical machine. He got the okay as long as he took it slowly.
But it wasn't long after that, he started meeting up with a runner friend who convinced him to run his first half-marathon in Austin of 2004. He finished and went on to run in Carraba's half-marathon later that year. After that he needed to push himself even more so he trained and completed his very first 26.2 mile run, the Air Force Marathon in September 2004. It was so incredible, Acevedo didn't stop there, he finished four more marathons in a span of five months.
Today, at the age of 48, Acevedo has changed his life. He is a yoga instructor, personal trainer and a running coach. He has run 24 full marathons and is training a group of people for the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon.
Acevedo enjoys the running and training so much, he works with runners who enjoy traveling to different cities to run marathons. Their group is called the RGR Travel Team and they recently returned from Chicago where they participated in the Chicago Marathon. That event draws some 30,000 runners and thousands more spectators.
For some of his runners, Chicago was their very first marathon. That was the case for Adrienne Layo and Lisa Hernandez. Layo, Hernandez and fellow trainee, Renee Shaw, have chosen out three to five marathons after Chicago which they plan on running, including San Antonio. This was Hernandez' first marathon. This wasn't Shaw's first but she started running marathons to raise money to fight cancer after it claimed her uncle's life. Layo did it to meet new people after moving to a new city. But they all continue to pursue the sport because of the health benefits, personal fulfillment and sense of accomplishment.
They are the same reasons that motivate Rudy Acevedo to keep running, training and recruiting new members to the Road Runners Club of America. His goal: to change people's lives one mile at a time so that before you know it, 26.2 miles doesn't seem so daunting.
