Mark Potočnjak contacted us back in February of 2010. He was a marathon runner and race competitor, a person close to the natural products and supplement industry, and had an understanding of the global problem of childhood undernutrition. He also had a vision for Vitamin Angels - the creation of a team of passionate individuals committed to running, swimming, biking and being active for Vitamin Angels' work. Not long after, Team Vitamin Angels was born and Mark had organized a group to train, run and fundraise for the team's first ever marathon event, all in support of our maternal and child nutrition programs.
We asked Mark to share with us his motivation behind starting Team Vitamin Angels.
Four million years ago our ancestors began to walk on two legs; they become bipedal. Anthropologists argue that this single event in human evolution enabled early humanoids to become faster, to collect food faster, and to hide better from predators, which in turn gave them more time to sleep. During those longer periods of sleep they began to dream, to consolidate memory, evolving into modern humans.
Everywhere you look you will see children running. In the playground of Public School #76 in New York City, in the rubbles of post-war Bosnia, around the huts of Kenya. They don't walk, or jog, or pace, or cardio train. They run. And they are happy. They are doing what humans are made for. To run, and to run fast and far. We grown-ups often forget that joy; we become too preoccupied with our daily life, abusing the amazing technology that surrounds us.
For years I planed to run my first Boston Marathon, and I choose spring of 2010 as my goal. For those not familiar, the Boston Marathon is the peak of achievements for the recreational runner, with tough qualifying times. Discouraged that I was not fast enough, I came home after a long run and felt a bit tired. I needed vitamins. Maybe some potassium, calcium would also help, glucosamine for my knees. I picked up the phone and called my wife (a nutrition industry executive) and I continued with my daily life. All I needed to do was to pick up the phone and call her. Even if I didn't know anybody in the industry, I could just drive to the local store and load up with vitamins and other supplements my body desperately needed.
How lucky I am- a phone call is all I need. One simple phone call, speed dial #1. But I also live in a world where a child is hungry and sick. I live in a world where every single day, children die from hunger and hunger-related diseases. They have no access to supplements to replenish their bodies.
How to connect those two. One group of people, who are well aware of the need for proper supplements, vitamins and minerals, and the other group who are in desperate need for them. For months that was the question that occupied my mind. Then I remembered Vitamin Angels and contacted them. Their enthusiasm only confirmed that it is possible to connect the two groups. That is how Team Vitamin Angels was born.
"If you want to run, then run a mile, if you want to experience another life, run a marathon." -Emil Zatopek, Olympic marathoner.
Mark Potočnjak
Thank you, Mark for all of your hard work and continued support of Vitamin Angels!