Rich Stein
For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to own my own business. I have had several ideas over the years as to what that would look like. It just took a pandemic and me following my heart that lead me to the start of Running Greatly With MS LLC.
When the world locked down due to COVID-19 I began running because the outdoors was still open for business. I began running a mile every few days. Before I knew it that had doubled and eventually I ran 4 miles one day. That was the moment that I knew running would be a permanent part of my life. I became obsessed with running and I read the book “Born to Run” by Chris Mcdougall. His book introduced me to ultrarunning and started me on the path to becoming a running coach.
In August of 2021 I began a 167 mile run from Ohio to Pennsylvania as the segment 17 runner for MS Run the US. I was drawn to this organization because I have been living with multiple sclerosis since March of 2002 and I love running. My goal was to raise $10,000 to help others living with MS and share my story in the process.
In April 2021 after spending the majority of the year with a diet that was 90% plant-based I made the decision to go 100% vegan. I have not looked back since.
I have been a volleyball coach for over fifteen years. One day while at a tournament with my club volleyball team in 2022 I wondered what becoming a running coach would look like for me. I became a certified Ultrarunning Coach with UESCA in the spring of 2022.
Running Greatly With MS was the theme, or marketing campaign that I created for my segment of the MS Run the US relay. The theme comes from my favorite Teddy Roosevelt quotes. It is from his “In The Arena” speech. Multiple Sclerosis is this invisible disease that most people have no idea I have unless I tell them. When I run an ultramarathon I find myself in the arena as well.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt