Richardson Coucil member runs Marine Corps Marathon for charity, mother, hospital

by Andrew Laska of Richardson Echo

Anyone who knows Richardson City Council person Amir Omar knows he is an avid runner. His twitter feed is filled with Tweets that say things like, “Time for a quick 5mi run” or “Just ran 10mi in Richardson including Duck Creek & Owens Linear Trails.” This Sunday, however, he takes his running to a different cause. He is running the United States Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C to benefit the Methodist Richardson Medical Center.

It is a marathon he as run before, but this is not just another race for Omar. This time it connects to his life in many ways: Omar is on the Methodist Richardson Medical Center Foundation board. Methodist Richardson has some of the most advanced cancer center in the area, and the foundation board helps further that effort. Omar is running to support the hospital and foundation.

What makes this more personal for Omar is that his mother died of cancer the summer before his senior year in high school.

“We drove quite a way to get to M.D. Anderson in Houston,” Omar said, “One thing that got me interested in the foundation is that it could become a larger cancer center and that it could become the great center for this area. With the Lance Armstrong Shaped Beam Surgery program, they are already on their way.”

The Marine Corp Marathon started in 1976. Since then, only four runners have completed every race. It has had many famous participants over the years including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (before he was a Justice in 1980), Ted Koppel (1983), Oprah Winfrey (1994), Al Gore (1997), and many more. Its nickname is “The People’s Marathon” because it is largest marathon in the world that does not offer prize money, with over 30,000 runners. According to the marathon’s website, the course begins and ends at the famous Marine Corps War Memorial.

When asked why he would run this marathon Omar said, “I am running because of the charity aspect, and it is my favorite because of the Marine aspect as well.”

“It was an emotional moment seeing Marines cheering you on,” he said. “There must have been thousands of Marines at the finish.”

The Marine Corps Marathon makes tickets available to charities to sell for their benefit. Omar pushed for Methodist Richardson’s to be one of those charities.

Why does Omar run? “Personally it has been different at different times,” he said. “Sometimes it served a purpose for keeping in shape, and other times I have been more competitive with myself for a personal record.

“In my last marathon, I tried to qualify for the Boston marathon but was 7 minutes short,” Omar said. “MCM is an opportunity to support something different in a marathon.”

This time he isn’t just in it for health, but also for raising funds to fight cancer.

“I hope we can get a variety of marathons to partner with us in the future,” he said.

Stay tuned and we will update you on how Omar did in the marathon.