Mr. Vitale is a 7th-grade civics teacher at Iselin Middle School (IMS) who loves playing golf and running. He ran during afternoons with his son before it got colder.
He said that he often plays golf once or twice a week with his 17-year-old son. He said his favorite golfer was Tiger Woods.
The last time he played golf was during fall break. After that, he has not played at all. He does not have any golfing traditions. He participated in a casual golf tournament. It was at a charity, and he signed up with his friends and played with them.
He does one every year. One of his friends runs a charity for his father, who had passed away due to brain cancer. He hosts a fundraiser and awards scholarships to the winners. Mr. Vitale tries to play in that tournament every year.
“Normally, they’re more casual than professional. They do charity things where you have a team and people you play with,” said Mr. Vitale.
Mr. Vitale also runs in marathons. It has been a few years since he ran in one. Over a period of 20 weeks, his mileage was typically 50-60 miles over a course of four days. Over the last four weeks before the race, he had to reduce his mileage to conserve stamina for the marathon.
He participated in three full marathons. He did the New York City Marathon twice, and he did the New Jersey Marathon once. He also ran in half-marathons a couple of times. A normal marathon is 26.2 miles, and a half-marathon is 13.1 miles.
He would prefer running in the afternoon rather than in the morning because waking up early is not a goal he can achieve, and he is not motivated to run early. His body responds well in the afternoon.
“As you get older, and you wake up, you’ll be a little stiff in the morning, so you have to stretch and prepare, so it’s better for me to run in the afternoon,” he said.
He doesn’t have any specific gear, but he has a water bottle with a strap for carrying. He has a strap on his waist to put his phone in it. He also puts his snacks in it, like his energy gels and chews, when he needs to fuel up during the marathon.
They come in different flavors. He loves the fruity ones, such as the strawberry and cherry ones. That is his favorite go-to snack during the race when he needs to fuel up or gets hungry.
The hardest part about running in a marathon is the training. It is very time-consuming. It takes him 3 hours to finish training on the weekend, so you really need to rearrange your schedule when training. After that, you need your body to rest, and then you would have to not practice the next day to prevent your legs from becoming sore.
Mr. Vitale loves playing golf and running in marathons. He inspires other people to be active and socially participate in the golf and marathon running communities.
