Sanchez to raise funds for ADA in marathon

RAMIRO SANCHEZ of Jasper will participate in the Houston Marathon to raise funds for the American Diabetes Association. Sanchez ran cross country for Jasper High School for two years and graduated in 2002. He is currently seeking donations in his name to ADA in the marathon.

Ramiro Sanchez has always liked to run.

In fact, during his days on the Jasper High School cross country team, he was always a team leader.

Now, Sanchez is seeking to lead the way in a different way.

Sanchez will be participating in the Tenneco Houston Marathon in an effort to raise funds for the American Diabetes Association.

"I have a friend who is running in the Houston Marathon and told me the event was about helping people," said Sanchez, who graduated in 2002. "It sounded like something that I wanted to do as well. I like to help people so this was just a perfect match."

There are more than 10 different charity organizations available that benefit from the Houston Marathon.

For Sanchez, he just happened to choose the ADA as his charity.

Sanchez has set a goal of raising $5,000 for ADA.

He will be participating in the half marathon, 13.5 miles, but the distance in itself is a new challenge for Sanchez.

And the longest the JHS 2002 graduate has ever run at one time.

"I have run a straight 10 miles so far," Sanchez said. "I have been training nightly and I think I can make it."

He said he has run the distance during a day's time but that was with breaks.

"I might run eight miles in the morning and five miles at night," Sanchez said. "But straight running, the most I have done is 10 miles so this will be challenge to me."

The Houston Marathon is traditionally held in January, the area's coldest month of the year, and in years past has been held on freezing to sub-freezing days.

With that in mind, Sanchez has been training for both the run, and the cold conditions that may prevail during the marathon.

"It will be pretty cold and I have been preparing for that as best I can as well," Sanchez said. "The past few weeks, I have been running at night when it is colder to get ready for it."

Sanchez, who attends school at Lamar University in Beaumont, is seeking donors to help him reach his goal of raising $5,000 for ADA.

Anyone interested in donating to Sanchez' run can log on to www.active.com/donate/di abeteswalk/snchzramiro for more information.

"I am just doing this to try to help ADA out," Sanchez said. "I believe I have the capabilities of doing it and helping out this organization.

All donations go straight to ADA.