Former Pro Athlete Jon Palmieri on Supporting Charitable Causes

As a former professional baseball player, Jon Palmieri knew that not even the most gifted of athletes could succeed without a serious commitment to a multifaceted training program. During an athletic career in which Palmieri earned a place on the Collegiate Baseball All-American Team before embarking on a pro career with the Los Angeles Angels (during his time with the organization the team was still referred to as the Anaheim Angels) and Montreal Expos, running was a mainstay in his training efforts.

While Palmieri more or less enjoyed the endurance-based components of his training, he never thought of running as a potential recreational activity; at the time, it was just a necessary part of a professional athlete’s training program. Now that the former pro ballplayer has shifted his focus to his role as a financial advisor specializing in small businesses, Palmieri has developed a different perspective when it comes to running.

With an increasingly health-conscious population and its famously ideal year-round climate, California is the longtime home of a robust running community featuring recreational runners as well as some of the world’s top professionals (the world-class runners of the Mammoth Track Club train out of Mammoth Lakes, California, for example). So even though Californians have long recognized the wealth of benefits that come with joining the running community, there are plenty of others who, like Palmieri, are surprised by the sheer enjoyment of training for and competing in all manner of running events.

Palmieri is now a fixture at road races in New York and Rhode Island, particularly at events focused on generating charitable support for an important cause. He hopes to run a race in California in the near future, but in the meantime he continues to use running as a way to contribute to his own community. During his pro career, running merely served the purpose of providing the endurance every athlete needs to train for and compete at the highest level of sport; today, running serves the goal of providing support to charity, something that has always been important to Palmieri.

Even though running has always had some purpose for Palmieri, it is only recently that he realized how much he enjoyed the process of training for and competing in road races and other running events. Citing the strength and determination required of competitive runners, Palmieri has developed such a deep passion for running that he now sees it as a form of recreation rather than the simple means to an end it once was.

Palmieri also pointed out the added benefit stemming from the fact that competitive running events and charitable causes are so frequently interwoven. This common intersection has ensured that Palmieri’s newfound joy for running does not take away from his other passions, including for example, attending live sporting events and concerts.

Most important to Palmieri, of course, is his involvement in his son’s life, and -- in addition to leaving ample time to spend in the company of his son -- Palmieri’s passionate approach to running has proven to be quite useful in illustrating many of the critical life lessons every father hopes to share with his son.