Lebanon
In many ways, Waste has already been where he needs to be — and beyond.
Waste, 63, is part of a 10-person team training for the Brooklyn Rock ’n’ Roll Half Marathon on Oct. 8. Under the moniker Team RVC4ALS, the group contains mostly inexperienced runners who’ve been inspired to raise funding for Augie’s Quest, a national initiative benefiting the ALS Therapy Development Institute in Cambridge, Mass. Both Waste and the team have already exceeded their fundraising goals.
Waste’s niece, Ellen Corindia, has lived with ALS for 14 years. A Marlborough, N.H., resident, Corindia last spring came to greet the team and share her story of perseverance at River Valley Club in Lebanon, where the team trains.
Corindia, a U.S. Navy veteran and former three-sport standout athlete at Monadnock Regional High, has become a spokesperson and advocate for those living with ALS, participating in many research-and-treatment benefit events over the years while spreading her message of hope.
Corindia, who attended Norwich University, was 26 and on active duty in 2002 when she was diagnosed with ALS, the progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Corindia intends to join in with Team RVC4ALS at the Brooklyn Rock ’n’ Roll Half Marathon, getting pushed along the urban route by Waste’s daughter, Elizabeth.
That Corindia has survived this long is significant. Most with ALS die of respiratory failure within 3-5 years of the onset of symptoms and only 10 percent live 10 years or longer, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
“Her story is really remarkable,” Waste said following a recent group training in RVC’s swimming pool area. “The fact that she’s doing so well is a testament to her longevity. If I ever have a day when I’m feeling low, I think of Ellen and how she faces each day with a smile while thinking of others.”
The monthslong training process has been a transformative experience for Waste and his teammates, who work with RVC instructors Kelley Dole and Tara Ebejer twice weekly. Only one of RVC4ALS’s members has significant running experience — Canaan resident Lori Bliss Hill, who doubles as a member of the Upper Valley Running Club — and none had ever received the type of cross training Dole and Ebejer put forth. While issued running assignments to perform on their own, the group meets twice weekly at RVC to utilize its equipment and resources.
“Weights, spinning, stability ball work, TRX (suspension) exercises, core strength drills, cardiovascular activities; we’ve really done a little bit of everything,” said Dole, who will be accompanying the team in New York. “We were in the pool (Tuesday) to kind of get them off of their bones and give their joints a break. Some of them have been talking about aches and pains, shin splints, knee pain and that kind of thing. I thought the pool would be a good transition while still getting a good workout.”
Hill, the running club member, has enjoyed the diversity of exercises within the group.
“It’s been a really big benefit,” Hill said. “With UVRC, we spend a lot of time pounding the pavement (i.e. running on streets). It’s been a whole different experience with the cross training. I’m a horrible fundraiser, but (others in the group) have help me along with that part of it.”
Jennifer Fullerton, of Piermont, was initially intimidated by all the commitment involved with joining the team — then she met Corindia. During her meet-and-greet with the group last April, Corindia talked about all of the athletic endeavors she’s participated in since becoming wheelchair-bound two years after her diagnosis. Those activities have included downhill skiing, waterskiing, kayaking, sailing, rock climbing, surfing and bicycling, among others.
“The personal training definitely had me interested, but I just wasn’t sure if I could do it,” Fullerton said. “Ellen came and talked to us during our second meeting, and just learning about all of the things she’s done, I was like, ‘OK, I can do this.’ It made me really excited to be involved.”
Waste also conducted fundraising to purchase a plane ticket for his daughter, Elizabeth, to fly from her home in Boulder, Colo., to New York to push her cousin during the race.
“I am very excited to participate and it is very humbling to have people step up and offer to push me,” Corindia said in an email. “I am sure I will shed many happy tears on race day. After using a wheelchair for 12 years, I am accustomed to watching other people be active. It will be super fun to be among the pack of athletes once again.”
Team RVC4ALS wasn’t always destined to be a family affair. Augie’s Quest — with which Corindia has been associated since becoming friends with founder Augie Nieto six years ago — connected her with River Valley Club for the Brooklyn Rock ’n’ Roll Half Marathon independently of Waste. It was only after she agreed to the partnership that she realized it was the fitness club her uncle belongs to. (Aside from being a member, Bill Waste works part-time at RVC, taking on early morning shifts at the front desk.)
Having never run farther than four miles, Bill Waste has made significant fitness strides and has already exceeded his fundraising goal of $3,500. The team has raised $23,708 after a setting a goal of $20,000.
“Uncle Bill is a man with great compassion,” Corindia wrote. “He raised a lot of money for a walk (benefiting ALS treatment and research) when I was first diagnosed, but running a distance race is a whole higher level of effort. No matter what happens on race day, he has already succeeded in my eyes.”
So has the group, according to Dole.
“They’ve been a real joy to work with, she said. “Seeing the commitment they’ve made to themselves and the team and their enthusiasm for the cause has been awesome. We’re a small group, but we’re mighty.”
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.