Annual 5K, Health Fair to Promote Diabetes Awareness, Healthy Lifestyles

On Sunday, Fort Lee will team up with Cliffside Park and the Diabetes Foundation for the third annual “Run the Palisades” 5K Run/Walk and Health Fair to promote health, wellness, fitness, lifestyle improvements and especially diabetes awareness.

“If you know anything about diabetes, it’s becoming an epidemic in our over-eating, lack-of-exercise America,” said Roberta Schmidt, executive director of the Paramus-based Diabetes Foundation, which serves all of New Jersey.

Runners (and walkers) will lineup in front of Cliffside Park High School on Riverview Ave. at 10 a.m. Sunday and run or walk through parts of both towns—ending up with a lap back at the Cliffside Park High School track.

The USATF-certified flat and fast course will take participants from Riverview Ave. to Anderson Ave. and into Fort Lee. 5K-ers will then cut down Drury Lane in Fort Lee and back down Abbott Blvd. toward Railroad Ave., then onto Lawton Ave., Hudson Terrace and back to where it all started at Cliffside Park High School.

Schmidt said the idea started three years ago, when Cliffside Park Mayor Gerry Calabrese, whose family, she said, is “riddled with” diabetes, proposed it to the foundation.

“[Calabrese] is very close to diabetes, and he wanted to do something to help diabetics in New Jersey,” Schmidt said. “We were the lucky foundation that he came upon and said, ‘Let’s join together and help so many people with diabetes.’”

After Calabrese turned over planning of the event and coordination with the Diabetes Foundation to Cliffside Park councilman Ken Corcoran, Fort Lee entered into the picture.

“They’re so close to each other,” Schmidt said. “The towns are kind of interrelated. And [Corcoran] said, ‘How about if we get Fort Lee involved?’ And Fort Lee jumped on the bandwagon.”

She said Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich was “all for it; anything for something healthy.”

The two towns decided to alternate years hosting the event, “so not one town has to bear the burden every year,” Schmidt said.

“Last year, Fort Lee did better than the year before, and I think coming back to Cliffside Park this year, we’re going to do even better than last year,” she said. “It’s really encouraging to see it increasing in size every year, with more runners and more participants in the health fair. And to us, the health fair is just as important as the 5K. The 5K is our fundraiser, and we certainly need the money. But the more information we can impart to people—not only about diabetes, but health in general—is important to us.”

The aim of the health fair, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Cliffside Park High School and is open to the public, is to educate people “about nutrition and diet and keeping healthy, [and] hopefully this epidemic of diabetes will subside a little bit,” Schmidt said.

The health fair includes plenty of education, literature and information from a variety of vendors, but also free screenings provided by local hospitals. Those screenings include the following:

• Blood pressure
• Cholesterol and blood sugar
• Eye and foot
• Pulmonary function

“It’s unbelievable that most times at a health fair, we will find somebody whose blood-glucose numbers are high, and they need to be seen by a doctor because there is a chance they have diabetes,” Schmidt said. “And even if we help one or two people in that arena, we’re happy about it.”

Sunday’s event also includes a “healthy kids fun run,” complete with a face painter, a balloonist and medals for completing the run around the Cliffside Park High School track. The fun run starts at 9:30 a.m. on the track.

“Just things for kids to have fun,” Schmidt said of the kids’ event. “And again, get them used to the idea that exercise is good and being outside is good.”

Awards will be given out in all age categories Sunday. For those who don’t want to run, walking the course is highly encouraged. Pre-registration is also strongly recommended and can be done here or here.

Registration opens at 7:30 a.m. on the day of the race. T-shirts will be given to all pre-registered participants and on race day while supplies last. Sponsorships are still available and range from $250 at the Community Level to $5,000 at the Platinum Level.

“Too much weight gain and eating the wrong foods causes more sugar in your diet, and sugar through carbohydrates primarily is just terrible for diabetics,” Schmidt said. “And there is a direct correlation between working some of these things out of your system because of exercise. So keeping your weight down, and eating the right foods is just critical to a diabetic.”