| Lakewood Luminary: Tony Sigmund |
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Tony Sigmund is a Lakewood resident whom you may have heard of in recent times. You see, he made a name for himself on the running scene as an EXTREME endurance athlete. You’ll know why when you consider the fact that he’s run over 50 marathons in a 3 ½ year period, 26 of them on CONSECUTIVE DAYS, when some consider running more than one or two a year to be dangerous and unhealthy.
It started one hot summer day when Tony was on a casual run in the Metroparks and wanted to see if he could run 10 miles. Well, he made it and the rest, shall we say, is history. In the fall of 2000 he ran his first marathon – the Towpath Marathon. The following spring, on minimal training, he was up for the challenge of doing both the Cleveland Marathon and Greater Cleveland Marathon on back-to-back weekends. Tony was only getting started at that point. That fall (2001) he ran four marathons in two weeks (Steamtown, Towpath, Indianapolis, and Columbus). The last two were in consecutive days, raising money and awareness for a local non-profit group, Youth Challenge. In spring 2002, Tony ran the Boston Marathon (meeting the stringent qualifying time to run). Thirteen days later, Tony became the FIRST person to run the Cleveland Marathon TWICE in the same day, this time raising awareness for Cleveland’s Boys and Girls Clubs. This garnered much local and statewide media attention. In October 2002, he won his class at the Towpath Marathon.
What’s on the agenda for the future? Well, after having run the Cleveland marathon course 26 times in 27 days in 2004 (where he picked up the attention level to national and international) and was a pacer for a few marathons across the country, Tony took some time off for various personal reasons. He is in the midst of a comeback where he won the Clydesdale Division of the 2009 Inland Trail Marathon, and will run the perimeter of Cuyahoga County, WELL OVER 100 miles, this coming fall. He will be raising funds and awareness for local non-profit North Coast Health Ministries. Not bad for someone who once wondered if he could survive 10 miles!What’s the most important “cause” that Tony REALLY runs for? It’s to inspire. To let you know that when you set your mind to a task or goal that the only thing stopping you is YOU. You see, running is just a physical manifestation of what he’s programmed his mind to do. Most runners at this level have been running and winning races from junior high, through college level and beyond. Tony believes that when you pour your mind, heart, strength and soul into anything that you believe in or want badly enough, you CAN do it! Any limitations that people think they have are simply self-imposed limitations and can be overcome!
Tony’s been practicing and preaching the power of positive thinking on a daily basis through the use of meditation and visualization, in addition to using yoga and self-healing techniques like Reiki and proper nutritional programming. He’s a Certified Personal Trainer, Group Exercise Instructor, Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master and Self Defense Instructor.
As you can see, he has quite a background upon which to draw. Tony teaches all of these techniques to individuals as well as groups. He gives motivational lectures on CRASHING THE BARRIER of what one THINKS is their full potential! If you'd like to contact Tony for any reason you can reach him at (216) 965-9188 or email him at seetonyrun@hotmail.com
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