Marty's Story "DREAM BIG"
Marty Hartman was a Christian, an athlete, a friend, a co-worker, an author, and a sports enthusiast to name a few. Marty was also born with spina bifida and used a wheelchair for mobility. If you knew Marty, you know he was a character!
When Marty passed unexpectedly in November 2022, we all felt a tremendous loss. As we dealt with our loss, the team members at Solutions For Independence knew we wanted to honor Marty's life and his legacy. We soon decided that our next 5K had to be in Marty's honor. Marty was very determined and taught us all to Dream Big and let God take care of the rest. Marty would not be surprised that we are continuing to dream big with this 5K.
Check out the below excerpt from a post that Marty shared on his Facebook page after completing the 1st Race2Independence 5K. You will see a glimpse of Marty, how he impacted us all and learn why the Race2Indepedence will continue in his honor. He lived dreaming big. He lived fiercely independent. He lived giving so that others could live fiercely independent and DREAM BIG.
Marty's post on Facebook after completing the Race2Independence 5K.
"In case you needed more proof there is nothing a grown man won’t do to get a medal, here it is! Had the opportunity today to participate in the Race 2 Independence 5k. The untimed 5k was part of a larger event that shined the spotlight on a variety of adaptive sports available to those with disabilities. All I had to do to get this cool looking medal was show up and complete the 5k. For those that don’t know that is 3.1 miles. I had it all figured out. Set the timer and gps on my favorite running app and off I went. You see, I had declined the offer of a lap counter, depending on the app to do the job. Fifteen minutes in, I discovered that the app was not capturing my distance correctly. More accurately put, not at all! I had kept up with the laps to that point and knew I had nine laps in. No big deal… assuming this was a 1/4 mile indoor track I only needed to complete a little over twelve laps... Not so fast! It was just shy of the thirty minute mark I found out I actually needed TWENTY-FIVE laps to complete the 5k. By this point I had long since lost track of how many laps I had done. I quickly pivoted and went to plan B! What is plan B you might ask? Push laps for an hour or until I stopped breathing, whichever came first. Since you are reading this hours after the fact, the hour came first. A couple of other facts omitted until this point. I decided it was a good idea to attempt this feat with ZERO training. I also did it without proper hydration or fueling prior to the event. I have no idea how far I really pushed in that hour but I am pretty sure it was far enough to earn that beautiful medal. I hope you have laughed as you have read this little story, but for those of you that have been putting off starting that fitness plan, what is keeping you on the couch now? If I can do this so can you!"
Marty did do more than earn a cool medal that day. He continued to demonstrate the person he was; someone we respected and admired.
To learn more about Marty check out this interview Marty did on a local radio station, WBFJ. WBFJ interview with Marty Hartman
To donate directly to Free Wheelchair Mission in honor of Marty, click here https://give.freewheelchairmission.org/fundraiser/4593029
