Runners take steps to combat MS
ZELIENOPLE — Local runners are putting on their shoes and supporting the MS Run the US relay this week.
Runners from CrossFit TPA in Zelienople and the Grove City Cross Country team will take part in the nationwide run, which aims to raise awareness and funds to end multiple sclerosis. The relay started in Los Angeles earlier this year. They will run Tuesday through Saturday.
One of the runners is Cranberry Township resident Sandy Krivak-Fowler, who is a retired assistant principal and principal of Evans City Middle School. She was diagnosed with MS in March of 2010 and is running her second relay.
“I realized there was something wrong when I had my first child. She was 9 months old and I went to buy her first pair of shoes,” she said. “The gentleman (cashier) handed me a pen to sign the receipt and it went right through my hands and dropped to the floor.”
She was unable to grasp the pen with her hand and later went to a doctor where she received her diagnosis.
“My symptoms are invisible, and it is hard for even my family to understand my struggle every day,” Krivak-Fowler said in her blog on www.firstgiving.com. “I think it’s important to educate people on the realities that people face when struggling with a disability like MS.”
“Most people wouldn’t know that anything is wrong with me,” she continued.
She is a member of CrossFit TPA and goes there three times a week to work out in a women-only group called “Primal Meltdown.” Her family also participates in CrossFit on a weekly basis.
“She was an athlete before being diagnosed with MS, so this was a really big setback for her,” CrossFit TPA owner Tammy Friedt said. “For her to be able to get back into moving her body the way she did prior at our facility is rewarding to see her happiness.”
“She’s obviously much more confident in what she’s able to do,” Friedt continued. “It’s unbelievable.”
MS Run the US is a nonprofit organization committed to raising disease awareness and funds to further research in the fight to end multiple sclerosis. The 3,100-mile relay run begins in Los Angeles and ends in New York City.
The run is broken into 17 segments of about 175 miles each. Most segments are run by a single person who runs for seven days, about 26 miles each day.
However, Segment 16, that covers Medina, Ohio, through Grove City was reorganized to be run by a community of local runners who are connected to MS in some way.
Krivak-Fowler is being joined by her husband, Kurt, and CrossFit members Tracey Smith and Bob Lizowski, both from Cranberry Township. They will run about 160 miles total.
“We’ll leave at 4:30 in the morning to drive to Youngstown (Ohio) and we’ll run 26 miles through the Wilmington area,” Krivak-Fowler said. “I’ll run about two miles.”
Runners from CrossFit TPA in Zelienople, along with coaches and student runners from the Grove City Cross Country Team, participated last year as well with Moon resident, John Platt.
The group will run through Grove City on Thursday.
Each runner shares a connection to someone who is living with MS in some way, whether it be a parent, spouse or friend.
For more information on MS Run the US, visit the website at www.msruntheus.com. To view the progress of Section 16 during the run, including Krivak-Fowler’s blog, visit www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/Pittsburghstrong/msruntheus2016relay.
