Many 'commit to be fit'

Two participants recalled a time when they weren't fit enough to participate.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Gary Barnes and Chuck Petzinger love to run. In fact, they love to run so much, they ran again for the fun of it after running their legs of the Community Cup 10K relay.
"It's a natural high," said Barnes, who drives bus for the Youngstown YMCA. Petzinger is owner of Pan Atlas Travel and also is on the YMCA team.
Both men said they run regularly, including marathons.
Petzinger's wife, Lisa, is director of the Community Cup. He runs, bikes and swims during the event.
"Commit to Be Fit" is the Community Cup theme this year. Barnes and Petzinger both said they enjoy the Community Cup because it reminds them there were days when they weren't fit enough to compete.
Petzinger lost a lot of weight in the past few years, with his heaviest weight being 250. Barnes quit smoking a few years ago. Before he quit, he said, "I couldn't even run a half a mile."
Big event
More than 1,500 employees from 19 local companies and organizations are participating in the Community Cup. The event was held over two weekends and concludes today.
Youngstown YMCA created Community Cup in 1990. Today Community Cup remains the single largest event the Youngstown YMCA operates.
Bicycling, the 10K marathon, a timed prediction walk and tug of war were among Saturday's events.
Waiting for teammates to finish the time prediction walk, members of the Home Savings team were having a good time.
"We're involved in everything," said Rick Thomas, corporate collections manager. "We've been doing this from the beginning. Community Cup is great because you don't have to be an athlete to participate."
tullis@vindy.com