EMS professionals are challenged to balance work, family, and other obligations while also staying or striving for mental and physical fitness. The Everyday EMS Athlete is a regular column to recognize and learn from other EMS professionals that are setting and meeting fitness goals. This edition was contributed by Paramedic and Educator Mark Bandy.

Q: What is your EMS job?

I am a full time educator and trainer for Mid Georgia Ambulance in Macon, GA. I have 10 years of full time EMS experience and still ride the road monthly. I am currently working on revising my state’s protocols and working closely with Dr. Broselow in implementing the eBroselow system throughout the state.

Mark and the Run for Your Life Team from MGA

Q: What are your athletic pursuits and goals?

I would like to be more healthy for my wife, son, and my twins on the way.

Q: What race, fitness, or lifestyle accomplishments are you particularly proud of?

I am a big guy (6’4″ and 320lbs) and if you see me running you better start running in the same direction. I have been motivated by my coworkers to get out and walk the 5k events in the area. I have been averaging a 5k a month.

Q: What are your health and fitness tips for other EMS professionals?

Like a good friend said to me, “When you get walking/running, you are moving faster that the people at home on the couch.”

We need to be willing to move outside of our comfort zone. Get up and go or you will be seeing your EMS colleagues early in your retirement when they are called out to you.

Mark and the MGA Run for Your Life Team

Q: Are there organizations that you support that share your fitness goals?

Our Mid Georgia Ambulance Run/Walk team is called “Run For Your Life” more information about MGA can be found at www.midgeorgiaambulance.com

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Connect with me and the Run For Your Life team at Mid Georgia Ambulance on Facebook.

All Everyday EMS Athletes featured in this column receive an e-gift card from Road ID. Check out the Road ID information for First Responders. View past columns and submit yourprofile at the Everyday EMS Athlete page. 

It’s EMS Week. No better way to celebrate than 3 lists of 3.

EMS Week Recognition Items

1. Clothing – I am partial to a nice hoodie sweatshirt, preferably no zipper

2. Gadgets – a TRECK+, pen light, or pocket knife would be useful to any EMS professional

3. Food – how about a one pound bag of coffee beans from a local coffee roaster or a gourmet bag from JavaMedic.com

Participate in the Global EMS community

1. Update your Facebook profile

2. Comment on an EMS blog post or podcast about EMS Week

3. Submit a guest post … I am always seeking guest posts from actual EMS professionals

Feel Better During EMS Week

1. Stop doing something

2. Start doing something

3. Go some where you like

EMS Week Special

Only available until midnight tonight (Tuesday) … download for the Kindle : Finding Humor While Deployed in Iraq by retired Army National Guard combat medic Trent Cherin.

Learn more about the book and Trent’s experience in this episode of the Medical Author Chat podcast.

The Cellcom Green Bay Marathon is a weekend of racing that includes a 5k, 1/2 mile kids run, half marathon, and marathon. I raced the half marathon in 2010 (or maybe 2009) and the full marathon in 2011. This year I decided to race the 5K on Saturday because on Sunday I volunteered to run the half marathon with a myTeamTriumph captain (upcoming race report).

I ran the 5K as a member of the Talon Rescue Racing team. Follow the team, our race reports, and tips for health and fitness at Facebook.com/TalonRescueRacing.

Lambeau Field Atrium ... on our way to packet pick-up

5K Preparation

My Spring running has been focused on preparing for the Bellin 10K, the 2nd Saturday of June. Thus the 5K was a good gauge of my speed improvements as well as my overall fitness.

In the days before the race I reviewed the course map and reviewed the 2011 results. After comparing my finish goal with the 2011 age group results I started to dream of a possible top 3 finish in my age group. But I wouldn’t be running against the 2011 field.

About 30 minutes before the race I went for a 2 mile warm-up run as instructed by my coach. She also wanted me to do six 50 meter strides to warm-up my muscles and loosen up my legs. It was pretty warm Saturday morning so I tried to keep my warm-up pace slow so I wouldn’t over heat before the race even began.

Words of wisdom from Coach Lombardi

Just at the end of my warm-up another runner called out my name. It was a grade school friend that I probably had not seen in 25+ years. How he recognized me is beyond me, but it was fun to catch-up after the race.

Course Map ... from my Garmin data

Start Line

I have never raced a 5K. I wanted to be close to the start line to avoid any congestion. There were more than 2000 registered runners and walkers so I knew I wasn’t the only one with grand ambitions. During my warm-up, from a distance, I saw a lot of runners at the start line much earlier than they needed to be there. As I worked my way to the start line I was surprised to see that the first 5 rows of runners were all kids under the age of 12. Local school programs do a great job of getting kids involved in a local running program. Lots of those kids had ambitions of glory and crowded the start line. I found a spot behind them and laughed with many others as an obvious race winner tried to squeeze into the front row (he did win and later told me it took him 150 meters to catch a kid ahead of him).

Mile 1

With a pack of kids in front of me I wanted to make sure I cleared as many of the kids as I could before the first turn. Many of the kids were running much faster than I anticipated and I realized I had to throttle down or I would be running at 5:45 pace.

While trying to control my pace I was also dodging kids that went from full sprint to a slow walk in 5 or fewer steps. It was great to see their enthusiasm and even better to see their determination to start running after quickly catching their breath.

I ran the first mile about 10 second faster than I planned. I was seeing the field thin out in front of me, but I had the sense I was well back with maybe 50 runners or more ahead of me. During this mile I also was in a group of about 5 other runners including a father-son and at least one runner that I thought might be in my age group.

Mile 1 split: 6:13

Mile 2

Mile 2 of the course turns west and runs uphill to Ridge road. I was anticipating this would be the hardest mile because after the gentle climb the course turned south onto Ridge road and into a steady wind from the south.

Watch trouble … it is always something with the GPS watch. Many training runs back I set a max heart rate alert on my watch of 178 bpm. I forgot to disable this alarm which began to steadily notify me during this mile that I was over the alert threshold. For the remainder of the race I was in the 180s so it seemed like the watch beeped every 5 seconds. Annoying.

After the intersection of Lombardi and Ridge Road my wife and kids were waiting to cheer for me. They yelled that I was about 25th, much better than I expected, and to keep running hard. I could still see 2 kids ahead of me and had another on my heels so I was still thinking the worst about my overall and age group placement.

The father-son combo was still on my heels. Dad was giving constant encouragement, coaching, and needling to his son. I am not sure how that will work out in the long run, but it worked Saturday morning for a high finish.

Mile 2 split: 6:54

Mile 3 and .1

Why did I want this so bad I wondered during the 3rd mile. A PR, a medal, a high finish … why? Fortunately the downhill run on Morris cured my self doubt and questioning and helped me get back both my speed and determination. I knew closing the gap between me and the runners in front of me was going to be tough so I focused on increasing my speed as the finish neared and trying to hold off the runners behind me.

Just before the final turn, the dad peeled off and his son roared by me. I tried to dig deep, but I couldn’t match his youthful sprint.

I looked up at the clock, disappointed I didn’t run under 20 minutes (the mile 2 double whammy of hill and headwind did that in), but glad I pushed myself so hard.

Mile 3 split: 7:18

Official Results

• Chip Time: 20:26
• Pace: 6:35
• Overall Place: 27 of 2043
• Gender Place: 24 of 807
• Division Place: 2 of 64

Cellcom 5K splits recorded on my Garmin at Mile 1, 2, and 3.1

Post Race

My wife was much more confident than me that I might have placed in my age group so we milled around waiting for the awards ceremony. Fortunately there was plenty to eat, clowns to entertain the kids, and friends to chat with.

Awards Ceremony

Starting with the oldest age group they announced 5 year age group awards. There were some impressive finishing times in the 65 and older age groups and several runners in the 45 and over age groups that ran faster than me. With each time announced ahead of my pace my likeliness of medaling improved.

In the 40-44 year old age group … 3rd place … some other guy … 2nd place … Greg Friese, Plover, WI …. YAHOO! … 1st place … some really fast guy.

Before a roaring indifferent crowd I walked forward to claim my medal. A nice piece of hardware on a white ribbon that I wore for the rest of the day.

2nd place in the 5K 40 to 44 year old male age group

Cool Down

I recovered post race by running the 1/2 mile kids run with my daughter, general relaxing, and the marathon eve pasta dinner. Lots of focus on rehydration as I was refueling for the half marathon the next day.

Documentary film of the making of this year’s FDNY EMS Week poster while also highlighting the important work of FDNY EMTs and Paramedics.

Local news star thanks EMTs and Paramedics for their service to the residents of Enfield by reading the EMS Week Presidential Proclamation. Also features photos and video of Enfield EMS.

This is great. I have heard of picnics, cook-outs, banquets, ice cream socials, and more for EMS Week recognition, but this is the first time I have heard of an EMS Week Bass Tournament.

As we like to say around Everyday EMS Tips HQ, “Now that’s a great bass!”

Set of video spots featuring EMS professionals from the Newport News Fire Department:

Milton Roman Paramedic/Firefighter

Marlon Pendergraft Firefighter/Paramedic
Describes how he enjoys teaching prevention to children. We can make a difference in preparing kids for an emergency.

Kate Harper Firefighter/Paramedic

Charlie Brenneman Firefighter/Paramedic/HazMat Specialist
“We’re going to be there when citizens are having their worst day”

I have run thousands of miles training for more than a dozen marathons and half marathons in the last 6 years. Of those miles none have come to me as comfortably as the miles I ran today. I was proud and honored to run with Captain Jacob for myTeamTriumph – Wisconsin Chapter. Jacob is a wonderful young man that allowed me and two other runners to push him in a “chariot” (stroller) around the half marathon course. We started in the back of the final wave of runners and walkers and weaved our way around and through the field to finish in just under two hours. Between now and my race report post I just wanted to shout out some thank yous from this amazing event.

1. Thank you to the founders, volunteers, captains, and their families that make My Team Triumph an amazing organization. As runners we have the opportunity to assist persons with disability that might not otherwise be able to participate in and complete an endurance event.

2. Thank you to the thousands of runners on the course today that cheered for Jacob, offered him a high five or a fist bump, and called out their support for My Team Triumph. Jacob was thrilled to shout back, return your first bumps, and receive your encouragement.

3. Thank you spectators for the signs, cheers, and most importantly the COW BELL! I always love more cow bell and it was even better today to share that with Jacob.

4. Thank you to the volunteers that passed us Gatorade, Water, and Gu. Thanks to the many volunteers that dumped water on my head when my hands were full of cups for Jacob and my team mates.

5. Thank you to the neighbors that left your sprinkler running over the street. It was a hot, humid and sunny day. Temperature control (with weather adjusted pacing) was critical to our successful finish.

6. Thank you to the race organizers, start and finish area volunteers and medical personnel. The decision to close the course 2 hours and 25 minutes after the start must have been a difficult one, but it was a good decision. Note: in my race report I will write more about the weather, decision to close the course, and the demands on the medical team.

7. Thank you to my friends, old and new (Lucy, Dave, Kim, Kristin, Scott, Todd, Tyler, Jen, and many others) that shared their personal greetings to us on the course this morning.

8. Thanks to my family for their support and encouragement. It is only because of their patience that I can lace up my sneakers and go running for hours at a time.

9. Thanks to the medical team members, paid professionals and volunteers, that came to the aid of ill and injured runners this morning. It is paradoxical that in the midst of amazing feats of strength and endurance we can be confronted by the chilling scene of a runner down and unresponsive. Providing care at an MCI distributed over more than 10 miles of city streets in several communities presents a unique challenge that we can never be 100% prepared.

I actually feel a bit guilty that the miles came to me so comfortably today when so many around me were in considerable distress due to their exertion in the unseasonable heat, humidity, sun, and wind. For that I am very thankful.

More to come …

5k race report

Half Marathon race report

Today I am running the Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon as an “angel” for My Team Triumph, an organization that helps persons with disability participate in endurance events as registered racers. Me and two other runners are part of Team Jacob, a wonderful young man from Green Bay.

We are one of 10 teams with more than 40 volunteers that will be completing either the half or full marathon. If you are running or spectating today make sure you shout your support to the My Team Triumph captains. Also connect with My Team Triumph on Facebook. It is an amazing organization.

The half marathon starts and finishs at Lambeau Field. Last year I ran the full marathon and the year before the half marathon. Even though I won’t have a race bib or timing chip I will still write about my experience in a race recap.