Those of us who walk through Old Town on Saturday mornings have noticed the now familiar sight of Adriana Ziegenbusch, her husband Ryan and one or more friends running through town as they train for the 10K event of Run Seal Beach on Saturday, April 8, 2017. Why, you may ask, is this news worthy? The answer is that just a few months ago it could never have happened.
Adriana is known in and around Seal Beach for the countless hours of volunteer work she does with the Seal Beach Lions Club and over the past year, for the Los Alamitos Education Foundation (LAEF) Queen and King of Hearts Campaign, which provides after school and summer enrichment for students in the Los Alamitos School District. In fact, she was crowned Queen of Hearts last year and raised more money for our kids than any candidate had in previous years in support of the LAEF campaign. Amazingly, she has time in her busy volunteer schedule to hold down a full time job as a “skin guru” for Burke Williams in Torrance and Orange.
In November, 2016, Adriana took a six week challenge through The Camp Transformation Center in Cypress and lost 26.6 pounds! The program incorporates healthy eating, physical training, coaching and support in the six week program. Encouraged by her incredible success and the compliments she received, she took the challenge again and lost another 22.5 pounds over the next six weeks! Still not at her goal weight, Adriana is taking the six week challenge for a third time and has lost more than 50 pounds to date! Of her admirable achievement, Ziegenbusch says, “You just have to put your mind to it and do it for yourself. You don’t need a workout partner. Start now, don’t wait! If I can do it anyone can.”
At this point in her journey, she has realized she is in better physical condition than ever before and she is able to run for the first time in her life. She vowed to register for Run Seal Beach (another first, having volunteered on race day for the past seven years), start a team and run in the 10K event this April. In just three weeks, she has garnered a team of nearly 10 runners and is now running 8.5K in one hour during her weekly training sessions.
The deadline to join a team for Run Seal Beach 2017 is Friday, March 17th so there is still time to register for Adriana’s team, Team Lions (promo code: lions2017) or the team of your choice at www.runsealbeach.com/teams.
Run Seal Beach® is a non-profit organization whose charter is to raise funds and awareness for recreation or fitness programs or services to benefit the greater Seal Beach Community including Rossmoor and Los Alamitos. Since 2003, RSB has given back more than $1.3 million to our community, representing more than 114 organizations through the years, touching thousands of residents, students, servicemen and those who are served by our community through the grant process or director’s gifts.
Run Seal Beach® is planned, managed and executed 100 percent by volunteers, with no salaries drawn for any administration so that 100 percent of available proceeds are given back to the community each year.
The little race with a big heart takes place on Saturday, April 8, 2017 and begins at 7:30 a.m. with the Kid’s 1K Fun Run for kids from 3 – 10 years old. The 5K/10K Run wave starts at 8 a.m. and the 5K walk starts at 8:05 a.m. The race start line is at the Seal Beach Community Center, 151 Marina Drive, Seal Beach, CA 90740. Runners, walkers with baby strollers or with dogs on a leash are welcome. Supervision is provided for children who are registered for the 1K Fun Run at our Kids Fun Zone at the pier area while their parents race.
Go to www.runsealbeach for more information or to register. Use promo code “sunnews” to receive $5 off your individual registration.
