My story is very different than most of those who run marathons for NKF as I have not been directly affected by kidney disease.

In early 2022, I started coaching Sal Gomez. He was going to be running the New York City marathon that coming fall and was running it for the National Kidney Foundation. From the get go he was a committed athlete and wanted to do everything he could to train well and run strong for what would be his first marathon. 

As a coach it is important to me to understand my athletes on a human level first, and so I was able to learn a lot about Sal's family and I wanted to learn more about why he chose to run for the NKF. He shared the story of his son battling kidney disease for years who required a kidney transplant as a young teen. In 2021, Sal became his son's donor. You can watch my interview I did with Sal on my Youtube channel. In the vides he shares that his reason for running for NKF was a way to pay it forward to other families who may not have been as lucky as theirs to have a donor match so quickly. 

During this time I got to coach and befriend Sal, an amazing and selfless human who loves his family so much. Sal went on to race NYC that fall of '22 running for Team Kidney Moves.
 

Last summer, Sal decided to do his first triathlon. During the bike portion of the close course, he was struck by a car. Sal suffered many severe injuries including a brain injury and for a long time the prognosis was unknown. It was during this time that I  donated to his Go Fund Me along with so many others, but I felt helpless.

Sal wasn't just my athlete, but my friend, and it was devastating and I couldn't fathom what his family was going through. And truthfully, I wondered if Sal would ever be able to race for the NKF again, let alone run, and this hurt my heart because I knew how much it meant to him to be able to do it.

It was then that I decided that one way I could honor him no matter what happened was by running for NKF. If he couldn't, then I would, and I could carry it on for him.

But I'm so happy to tell you that his story is one of hope, perseverance and overcoming. Little by little, Sal injuries healed and he started getting better. 

In November Sal reached out to tell me he was able to do a little bit of jogging in rehab. Since then his comeback to the sport he loves has been so incredible. We stayed in touch as his rehab progressed and in the spring he told me that he was ready to train for and run NYC again. So here we are. He is back. And we get to run side by side.