Chef Moses has recipe for marathon success

Ruben, executive chef and owner of Melange Restaurant on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, has competed in over 10 marathons between 1989 and now. Ruben, now 56, plans to compete in the 2017 Trinidad and Tobago International Marathon in January and wants to inspire the young people of the country.

Ruben said, “I especially want to inspire the youths - they need that - if things are tough at home but you want to achieve a goal in life, you could still do it but I know some people have a lot of commitments at home.

We have a lot of single parent homes where the older sister or brother would have to help out at home so it is a lot of stress on the child because they are still children themselves.” Ruben added, “What I am doing, I wish I could touch young athletes who are coming up and they could say this man has a serious responsibility and he still has this passion and he is not giving up.” Sometimes Ruben’s work as a chef starts from 4 am or 5 am until midnight so time management is important, but he is hoping to train six days a week or maybe seven days but knows he has to be smart so he does not get burnt out before the marathon.

Ruben, who plans to run the UWI SPEC International Half Marathon on October 23 as preparation for the TT Marathon, says his job as a chef has taught him about proper nutrition while gearing up for a marathon.

He explained his goals leading up to the Marathon in January saying, “Right now I am about 185 pounds so by January I would like to be weighing 135-140. It might sound like plenty but in running you tend to drop a lot of weight but you have to monitor that to make sure you don’t lose too much muscle mass.” Ruben, who admitted that running a marathon is the toughest thing he has ever done in his life, has competed in Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, New York and Chicago previously and has his sights set on the Boston Marathon one day. The chef, who has a personal best time of two hours and 52 minutes, says he would like to run for a charity which he knows would help motive him to compete.

Ruben says it is an exciting feeling when you complete a marathon. “It’s a great feeling especially if you achieve your goal.

I think the main focus people need to go into a marathon with is to complete the marathon and finish healthy, no injury. Once you train properly and you race properly, at the end of the race you will feel good. You would not feel exhausted, fatigued or want to faint.” Ruben reiterated that if you have a goal in life you should not let anything stop you.

“They need to be disciplined, they need to be focused on what they want. Of course your job is very important that is the main thing but if you have a passion, a competition you want to enter, there are times when things would not work your way but you don’t get turned off, you just have to keep at your goal, keep focused and just keep pushing and don’t ever give up.”