Jersey City man to go the distance for SFIC – NJ.com

Michael Rolek has been addicted to running since he was a Freshman at Seton Hall Prep in 2000. As a husband, father and attorney, he runs to stay in shape, explore his limits, and keep off the pounds. On Sunday, Nov. 8, he’ll be running the perimeter of Manhattan to raise money for the Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children (SFIC), in connection with SFIC’s “A Run for Education.”

Rolek and his wife, Nicole, have been a Jersey City residents for three years, and now have a 2-year old daughter, Ryleigh. He lived in Hoboken for three years prior to moving to Jersey City and is a former elementary school teacher in Newark, where he taught at North Star Academy Elementary School from 2008 to 2010. He runs three to four days a week.

“I was a pretty small kid growing up,” said Rolek. “I became hooked on distance running when I realized I could become good at it if I simply put in the time and out worked everyone – height and weight were nonfactors.”

After some success in high school, he received a partial athletic scholarship to attend Marist College. During his senior year he was named Third Team ESPN Magazine Academic All-American and was the Marist College 2008 Male Sportsperson of the Year. He was also named All-MAAC in cross country and broke the school record in 10,000 meters. He also became the first student-athlete in school history to earn an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.

After college, he continued to run competitively. This past June he ran a 50k, which is approximately 31 miles, around Jersey City in one day. The perimeter of Manhattan is about 32 miles.

“That’s all my body can handle,” he says. “One day a week I do a harder or longer effort. To prepare for this run, I did a few runs over 20 miles – topping out at 24.”

SFIC is a non-profit organization based out of Newark that gives low-income children living in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties the opportunity to attend high-quality private and parochial elementary schools, high schools and colleges. Founded in 1983, the Fund has impacted the lives of thousands of inner-city families, providing approximately 57,000 students with more than $47 million in partial-tuition scholarships. Rolek sits on the board of associates for the fund and hopes to raise $10,000.

“My original goal was to raise $3,000,” says Rolek. “I surpassed that in less than a week so the second goal was $5,000. That was surpassed in two weeks. With pledges, we are now close to the $7,000 mark so the goal is now $10,000.”

Rolek will be the only one running the full distance while his high school teammate and good friend, Brian Trembley, will be running the first 15 to 18 miles with him.

“I’m not as fast as I used to be,” says Rolek. “The goals I’m setting now are more distance-based. One day, while running along the Hudson River, I thought it would be cool to run around Manhattan.”

Donations for the run around Manhattan can be made at charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/the-run-around-manhattan-for-the-scholarship-fund-for-inner-city-children/michaelrolek.