Fifteen years after a heart attack nearly killed him, a Monroeville man says a Mobile road race changed the entire course of his life. Fred Kelley, who now leads the Peddlin’ for a Cure bicycle ride he started in 2004, says none of it would have happened without Mobile’s Azalea Trail Run.
Kelley suffered his heart attack on March 28, 2000, an event that cost him much of his heart function. Doctors told him he had lost nearly all use of his left ventricle. Rather than accept a diminished life, Kelley said he decided to make sweeping changes to his diet and activity level, and he set his sights on the following year’s Azalea Trail Run — an annual 10K held each spring in Mobile.
“I didn’t know what a 10K run was. I didn’t know how far that was. I didn’t care,” Kelley recalled. With a friend serving as what he called an “accountability partner,” Kelley began walking, then jogging, steadily cutting out fried foods and white bread in favor of grilled meat and wheat bread. By the time race day arrived in 2001, he had lost 70 pounds and crossed the finish line in one hour and 24 minutes.
After that first race, Kelley returned to Mobile Infirmary, where he had been treated, to share his story with patients facing similar health scares. He went on to help organize a company-sponsored team through his employer, South Alabama Gas, that has participated in the run for years as part of a workplace wellness program.
Kelley said one of his most memorable moments from the race came when he slowed his own pace to help a struggling runner finish. About three years ago, he said, he came across a man near the back of the pack who was overheated and exhausted with about a mile left to go. Kelley encouraged him to walk and jog in short bursts, pole to pole, until the man found his second wind and ran the final stretch into the crowd on his own. The man later returned with his wife and children to thank Kelley for the encouragement.
“I kind of figured that was my calling, to help those struggling,” Kelley said. “So I just stay in the back and encourage people.”
The 2015 Azalea Trail Run, held each March in Mobile, marked the 15th anniversary of Kelley’s heart attack and another chance for him to pay forward the encouragement he says saved his own life. The race remains one of the Gulf Coast’s longest-running spring traditions, drawing runners of all ability levels to Mobile’s historic streets each year.