Bill Kanouff is on the run. Quite often, actually.
“I’ve been running two or three times a day for several weeks now, and it feels great to run and to get that intense cardio again,” he said.
Kanouff has been a well-known activist and volunteer in the LGBT community for many years, and since injuries sustained in a 2011 motorcycle accident resulted in the amputation of his right leg, he has served as an inspiration, as well.
Speaking to Watermark at the end of 2012 about his accident and recovery, Kanouff said he returned to his local gym a mere two weeks after being released from the hospital. However, one aspect he hadn’t been able to add back into his workouts was running. Until now.
“My regular everyday prosthetic isn’t good for running,” he said in an April 17 interview. “But I recently got a grant for a running leg called ‘The J Leg,’ and now I’ve been doing my normal routine at the gym, and in addition, going out and running several times a day.”
And he is running with a purpose. On April 28, Kanouff will take part in the 2013 Tampa Bay Red Ribbon Run, an annual fundraiser to support the HIV/AIDS education, advocacy, prevention and treatment programs of Metro Wellness & Community Centers and The AIDS Institute.
“Kathie Michaels, who is coordinating the event, is an old friend of mine and asked if I would run in it,” Kanouff said. “She knows that with my having worked with other HIV relief groups, it was something near and dear to my heart. So it’s something I felt I really needed to do.”
Kanouff explained that his preparation for the event did come with a slight learning curve when using his new prosthetic.
“There are two types of prosthetics for running the J Leg and the Running Blade,” he explains. “The J Leg is actually designed for people who are above-the-knee amputees, and the Running Blade is for those who have full upper leg intact.”
“So because it [The J Leg] has no knee or ankle, it takes a whole different body motion to run with it, so there’s a learning curve. One of my biggest issues with learning to run with it was that I was concentrating so much on the running motion that I wasn’t concentrating at all on my breathing, so you can end up short of oxygen really fast,” he said with a laugh.
However, Kanouff was able to get comfortable with the new motion very quickly.
“48 hours and I was fine,” he said. “The only thing I didn’t get down right away was the breathing, but as for the actual running aspect, I got that pretty quickly.”
He is excited to be a part of the upcoming Red Ribbon Run, not only because of the cause he will be supporting, but because of the way in which he will be supporting it.
“I have done charity runs like this in the past, but this will be the first since I’ve gotten the running leg. It’s going to be a whole new experience,” he said. “Any time you can do something very healthy and physical to help a charity or non-profit, it’s a good combination.”
And Kanouff knows the importance of maintaining one’s health, as he has seen the benefits first-hand.
“For me, cardio and working out, it’s all a big part of my health and fitness,” he said. “I like to maintain myself and keep myself strong, and I honestly think that’s one of the only reasons I survived the accident was because I had maintained myself and kept myself strong. So I need to continue that, and I want to continue that.”
In addition, he wants to use this new opportunity to continue being an activist, a volunteer, and, perhaps most importantly, an inspiration.
“I want to do more of these charity runs now that I have the running leg because if anyone ever has an excuse not to participate,” Kanouff said, “they can look at a 55 year-old man with one leg running in the event, and there’s not much of an excuse you can have that would trump that.”
The Tampa Bay Red Ribbon Run is Sunday, April 28, at Al Lopez Park, 4810 N. Himes Ave., in Tampa. Participants can run in the 5K or 1-Mile Fun Run. There’s also a 1-Mile Walk.
Check-in begins at 7 a.m. with opening ceremonies at 7:30. The run starts at 8 a.m.
For more information on the 2013 Tampa Bay Red Ribbon Run, or to register/donate, visit TampaBayRedRibbonRun.org.
