Name: Kathleen Bates Sparacin
Age: 36
Spouse: Rich Sparacin
Pets: THE BOYS… Buddy (6) and Jax (5)
Occupation: Music Teacher in Comsewogue
Hometown: West Sayville, NY
Current town: Holbrook, NY
Hobbies: Running, dogs, zumba, music, napping
Hello all! Thanks Lou LaFleur for asking me to be WOTW!
Here goes….
Like Rich Sparacin said in his WOTW, I too, was born a baby. I arrived on a cold Monday in February in the year of 1983. This explains my love for napping. I started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old and haven’t stopped since.
Thanks to my amazing family I had the best childhood. It was the five of us… myself…sister MB Tieds, Mom and Grandparents. We lived the life on Colony Drive! We had a very old fashioned Irish Catholic upbringing and my sister and I even did Irish Step dancing.
As I got older in school, I stopped dancing and my years were mostly spent playing in the band, practicing my clarinet, working at the Fire Island Pines Pantry, being a community service nerd and getting dragged to my sisters running events. I did not like running!!!!!! My dream was always to become a band teacher.
College was pretty amazing…I went to SUNY Potsdam and got to live in a big old house. I was a party animal! My housemates and I were so crazy people that people who didn’t know us thought that we lived in a frat house. I still got my work done, loved playing the clarinet, was still involved in lots of clubs and student government….even led people to believe that Oprah was coming to Potsdam!
After graduating in 2005 it was time to join the real world (kind of). Back to Colony Drive I went…the days of animal house behind me. I still worked at Fire Island in the summers and began subbing and eventually teaching. As excited as I was to begin my own life….I was lonely. I decided I needed to make a change so I did what most normal people do…. I signed up for Tap class!!!
Shortly after my tap dancing debut I met Rich through Match…I didn’t want to date him at first because he was an inch shorter. My sister pointed out that his profile said he liked 90210 and I was sold! We have pretty much been together ever since…and lucky for Rich he has gotten to sit through about 12 years of dance recitals and multiple school concerts! That is love! I have since retired my tap shoes and replaced them with running shoes.
I began running regularly about 4 years ago. First I was doing it just to be healthier. A few 5ks here and there. A quick run in the neighborhood with the dogs. Something I could do on my own time whenever I felt like it. I had to convince Rich to start running. He would be behind me at races, trying to keep up with me. Since then it has become so much more for both of us! I love that running is a constant project for me. I never thought it would become such a huge part of our life. Rich and I always enjoyed going to races but usually it was just us or a couple of friends or family members who were also running. 5ks have turned into half marathons…As he likes to remind me….I created this monster!
Although I convinced Rich to start running, he is the one who convinced me to join Selden Hills and the Patchogue running clubs. I am a slower runner, which at times can get discouraging. For a long time I thought…if I’m going to be running by myself why don’t I just run in my neighborhood? My first Selden Hills run was February of 2019 and it was a quiet Sunday morning. There was hardly anyone running…of course I got lost and didn’t want to come back again! I did find my way back and Rich and I drove back later that night to get my picture at the pole.
This summer I started coming more regularly and I’m glad I did. I’m still slow but have been seeing improvements! We have also made so many awesome friends. Our weekends almost always involve long runs with friends, races or hanging with our running pals. Life is pretty amazing and I’m one lucky gal! I look forward to sharing more with you.