The Road To Wellness 5K

Make time for yourself

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Diane Daniels, Sr. HR Generalist at The Dimock Center

Taking care of my two parents who are ill has put into perspective the importance of being healthy. It pushes me to take better care of my health and motivates me to encourage others to do the same. I believe your body is your temple so it is very important to take care of it. When I heard Dimock was holding its very first 5K walk/run last year, I was very excited and told myself this is a great opportunity to take part. It was my first 5K so I decided to walk the 2-mile course. On the day of the event, I could feel the energy and excitement from everyone around me – it was massive! When I finished, I knew it would not be my last. This year, I plan to run the 5K course and have started setting goals to keep myself on track.  In order to keep myself motivated, I like to try and make my exercise fun. The best exercise is most likely the one you love the most, so find time to do it. Keeping track of even small success and reward yourself!

Thank you to Presenting Corporate Sponsor Tufts Health Plan

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Would your organization like to host a table at our Health & Fitness Pavilion? As the central location of the start and finish of our Walk/Run in the heart of Roxbury, the Health & Fitness Pavilion is an interactive way to get in front of hundreds of community members interested in health and community engagement.

We are looking for local organizations to provide healthy snack samples, demos and health related opportunities to hundreds of community members during our event on September 10th. Cost to host a table is $100. For more information, please contact Kevin Hudson at khudson1@dimock.org.

From ‘Sick Kid’ to Olympian

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Ruben Sanca was born in Cape Verde and came to US in 1999 when he was 12 years old. While in his pre-teen years, being a runner never really crossed his mind. He loved the sport of soccer and dreamed of one day playing the World Cup. As a young child, he had several asthma attacks and was known in the family as the “sick kid” who always had some health issues. He was prescribed inhalers but never used them because he was afraid of becoming dependent on them. Ruben suffered a lot in his early years and albuterol syrup was often his only remedy.

Everything changed when Ruben came to the US. He found out my asthma attacks were related to a lot of the dust allergies in Cape Verde. When he was at the Dearborn Middle School, he was recruited by my middle school teacher to run track. He was one of the slowest guys on the team, as he still suffered from asthma. Once he made it to the John D. O’Bryant High School, his primary care physician mentioned that his asthma was becoming non-existent. During that time,  Ruben noticed a rapid improvement in his breathing and eventually his running.

Years later, Ruben found himself competing at the high school national track and field championships and the NCAA collegiate national championships. He returned to Cape Verde to win several track and road racing national championships. In 2011, he represented Cape Verde at the World Championships in South Korea, and in 2012 at the Olympic Games in England.

Ruben currently balances his running with his full-time job as a business manager in the division of student affairs at his alma mater, UMass Lowell. He plans to qualify for the Olympic Games again for 2016!