Joe D'Amico, the "McRunner"
This past Wednesday, September 7th, we had a special guest speaker visit HU. It was Joe D’Amico, also known as the “McRunner.” He gave an inspirational talk to US TL&D folks as well as others in McDonald’s who attended.
Joe is a real personable and friendly guy and happens to love eating McDonald’s. So much so, that he decided to combine that love with his love of running. On his blog he said, “For the 30 days leading up to the L.A. Marathon on March 20, 2011, I ate only McDonald’s. How did I do? I finished in 28th place with a personal best time of 2:36:14 (5:57/mi). And most importantly, I raised over $40,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicago & Northwest Indiana.” Read more about his 30 day challenge on his blog.
The HU Runners led by the McRunner
His favorite food items were the McDonald’s hotcakes. He said he sometimes even poured a Fruit & Yogurt Parfait over the hotcakes instead of using syrup. [I’m getting hungry typing this].
Joe also said that he runs twice a day, every day, for a combined distance of over 10 miles. When asked WHY he runs, he simply pointed to the photos of his wife and daughter.
The McRunner shared some of his tips with us, which I will add a few of here:
“Build your team” – Joe’s first 3 bullets on this team list were family, friends and teammates. At this point he even mentioned how great it was that our department was so involved in motivation an fitness with eachother (which includes this blog!).- “One day at a time” – He said that training for a marathon and running a marathon (as well as general fitness) is like the old joke – “How do you eat an elephant?” – “One bite at a time.” In other words, don’t get overwhelmed by thinking you need to lose 50 pounds – just work on the ONE pound you need to lose today. Similarly, don’t think about how daunting 26.2 miles will be – be present and think about the mile you are running at the time.
- Joe also said that on race day, he tells himself, “This doesn’t matter.” What DOES matter is his family.
After the talk, anyone who wanted to could go for a run with the McRunner, starting out at HU. I have to say that I wanted in on that and “geeked out” a little thinking about all of us actually running with the McRunner.
In the end, I kept up for as long as I could and watched Joe trot off into the sunset as a great role model to us all.
– yours in fun fitness, Mike
FunFitTeam 