Team Continuum - 'Running for a cause' drives Poole

‘Running for a cause’ drives Poole

(by William Edward McSheffery - July 03, 2008)

In November of 2008, 50-year-old Bill Poole will be running in his second New York City Marathon. However, he does not consider himself a runner. Maybe this is because Poole has had a stellar athletic background.

While in high school, the former Lakeland High School track star competed in the javelin and broke the state sectional record. He graduated from Lakeland in 1975.

At Ramapo College, he set the school javelin record. His best throw was 223 feet. His Olympic dreams were shattered when he severely broke his arm while throwing at an Olympic developmental meet. Through extensive rehabilitation and positive thinking, he completely recovered.

Poole decided to take up marathon running in 2005 out of boredom and a personal challenge. He entered and completed the NYC Marathon. He was still not satisfied. Then he experienced an epiphany of sorts.

"I had always wanted to run for a ‘reason’ and always felt that when I was ready I would end up running for Team Continuum," Poole said. He further states, " Team Continuum is a non-profit organization dedicated to taking immediate care of anyone involved in fighting cancer. They give cancer patients access to the everyday cure and fill in the physical and emotional gaps of support so cancer patients can have the strength to focus on their treatment."

One of the main reasons that Poole is so determined to help cancer patients overcome their disease is because he lost his mother to liver cancer in 1989 and more recently, last year his aunt died of lung cancer. "It wasn’t until this year that I decided that it was time to give back and run for a cause. A cause nobler and worthier then any I could ever find personally," said Poole.

It is this deep-rooted desire to help the hurting that motivates Bill Poole to pound out early morning or late evening training runs to prepare himself for the 26.2 miles.

He describes his training, "It’s pretty much a normal marathon training schedule. I will put in on average, about 35 to 50 miles per week starting about 18 – 20 weeks prior to the marathon. I’ll work into these high weekly totals and then taper off during the last 2two or 3 three weeks. However, because I work, it makes it’s hard to fit in all the running, so I try to run early in the morning, say around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. before work, or at night. Weekends, I try to schedule my longs runs during the coolest part of the day. This gets challenging during late July and August. I’ll also cross-train by biking, weight training, playing tennis and rock climbing."

The fact is Poole’s tends to consider himself more of a mountain climber than a runner. "I try to spend time doing a lot of mountain biking, rock and mountain climbing. The later being my real passion. Each winter I head up to Mount Washington in New Hampshire, pick the windiest and coldest day and attempt a climb," said Poole, who is was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Ringwood and has been living in West Milford for the past 20-years.

Poole has a strong interest in reading Eastern Philosophy and Quantum Physics. Currently, he is experimenting with Tibetan Buddhism to see if it will improve his running. He is a huge fan of Bob Marley and running legend Steve Prefontaine. Learning how to play the guitar is his latest venture. Always the compassionate one, last year Poole rescued a Husky named Sophie and a cat named Max from the Shelter.

After his Cancer fund-raising NYC Marathon this fall, Poole has an even more daunting goal for raising money for cancer patients through Team Continuum. "After this race is over, I will continue and intensify my overall training in an attempt a climb to reach the summit of Mount Everest. This has been my goal for a long time and at times borders on obsession. Conceivably, I would like to climb to raise money for Team Continuum. Right now I am planning on attempting the climb in the spring of 2010," he said.

Poole describes his training diet by saying that, "when training I eat a diet mainly consisting of carbs and protein. Lots of fish, eggs, lean beef, vegetables and fruit. I will also only eat only whole grain bread and totaling abstain from white flour and sugar. Lots of water as well especially the summer months. For recovery, I use Endurox (powdered drink) after a training run and Accelerade (also a powered drink) before runs. Propel water or regular water usually during training. Also, I take daily, fish oil, vitamin E and C, and glucosamine supplements. That's about it."

Poole adds, "because I have a body shape more consistent with that of a Sprinter, I’ve had the challenge of completely transforming my body shape into that of a runner."

The personable Poole is honest about the difficulty in maintaining a marathon training schedule while raising his two boys, Evan (15) and Ryan (12) and his daughter Alex (18).

Like their father the Poole children stay busy. Evan competes on West Milford High School’s varsity cross-country, wrestling and baseball teams while Ryan plays baseball and basketball and Alex is the captain on her high school’s gymnastic teams.

Poole has been a township coach off and on since 1995. "I’ll be honest, there’s times when I hate it [marathon training], especially when I’m faced with putting in a 15 or 20 mile training run at the end of the day. But overall, running clears my head. I like the solitude and quiet it provides and most of all the challenge. I tend to enjoy seeking out challenges that will test the limits of human endurance and what the body can endure."

He would like others to know that running for charity has helped him overcome a personal obstacle. "This will come to a shock to most people that know me but I’ve battled bouts of depression all my life and have a Social Phobia where I don’t like to be in big crowds or with a lot of people. I’m inherently shy and this tends to come across to many people as me being a loner even aloof. Maybe my story can help those facing depression as well," he said.

Fear of big crowds – then why run in the crowd-infested NYC Marathon? "What better place to test yourself. Plus, in 2005 I did many things wrong in running the race. I started out too fast and didn’t pace myself over the 26.2 miles and it was very warm. So I have a little unfinished business this year as my personal goal is to run a 3:30 to 4:00 hour race," Poole said.

Poole is adamant in stressing why he is involved with this worthwhile charity. "Although I like to think of myself as a very caring and compassionate person, up to this point in my life, I’ve never really given back. I’ve never really done anything really good for people in need. That’s why running this marathon means so much to me. Running to raise money for cancer patients has a very special meaning to me. But, I don’t want running this race to be the main story about me. If I could run this race in total obscurity and anonymity, I would. The bottom line for me is to raise as much money for cancer patients and research as I could."

Anyone who would like to help Bill Poole raise money for this worthy cause can do so by visiting Bill Poole’s marathon web page located at http://www.teamcontinuum.net.