HMSL Run Club Was a Lifesaving Outlet for Its Founder

Author: Eleanor Holmes

MARCH 27, 2023 — You could say the HMSL Run Club started with a tutu. 

“I saw a picture of my wellness coach. It was after she finished the St. Jude Marathon in Tennessee, she was wearing a tutu.”  

Lucille Kalu, a Patient Access analyst known around the hospital as Luci, was meeting with then-HMSL Wellness Coordinator Maria Vidal-Michel following a prediabetes diagnosis.  

“I asked her if she thought I should do it – running,” Kalu recalled. “I had already started walking, but I wasn’t very fast. She told me not to push myself but to see if I liked it, and the next thing I knew I signed up for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.”  

Kalu finished the 5K race in an hour and a half.  

“When people crossed the finish line and got their medal and I didn’t, I was jealous,” she said. 

Kalu turned that jealousy into drive, and she kept at it. She signed up for more runs in the greater Houston area. That spring, she attended a run at Constellation Field in Sugar Land and noticed HMSL was a sponsor and decided to talk to someone about getting sponsored for races.  

It wasn’t just anyone she decided to talk to.  

“I saw (CEO) Chris Siebenaler in passing at the cafeteria and I said, ‘Hey, I just finished a race on Saturday, and I saw that it was sponsored by Houston Methodist Sugar Land. Can you sponsor me for my next race?’” she recalled.  

“Just like that, I have no shame.” 

Kalu promised she’d sport a Methodist shirt and brag about where she worked if HMSL was willing to support the organization holding the race. But he challenged her with a bigger idea – to come up with a group that runners from across the hospital could join. 

Kalu called on Vidal-Michel to help with a proposal that she pitched to Siebenaler, along with the marketing department, which was ultimately approved. With that, the HMSL Run Club was born in 2016. 

Made up of just 10 people at its inception, the Run Club now has 150 members, according to Kalu, and crosses all disciplines and roles in the hospital. Throughout the year, HMSL supports several organizations throughout Fort Bend County that hold races and fun runs that the hospital will sponsor, which often includes race entries for runners. 

Kalu and her runners also participate on their own in the popular big-name Houston-area races. She was sidelined from those this year due to an injury, but that did not stop her from showing up on race day as a cheerleader. 

“How many people would work the entire marathon weekend just to give out hugs and hand out bananas,” said Vidal-Michel, now the manager of Employee Wellness. “Rather than be at home sad, feeling sorry for herself, she got behind the people that were running.” 

The Run Club has a come-at-your-own-pace spirit; some people walk, some people run, others are marathoners. No one is required to run a certain number of races and there are no benchmarks for speed, time or pace. The Run Club is a place for individuals to show up, work toward a common goal, and celebrate accomplishments at the end of the race.  

Kalu, who calls herself “Mama Turtle” and her runners her “turtles,” enjoys the community that the club brings outside of races. It introduced her to people across the hospital, which in turn allowed her to connect them with others.  

“When someone comes to me and needs help, whether it’s from nutrition or radiology or marketing, I can tell them, ‘OK, I think I know who can help you,” Kalu said. “It makes me feel good that I am a source of information for people.” 

That connection, Vidal-Michel says, can play a big part in the success of healthy hobbies like running.  

“Luci has built an amazing community around her,” she said. “It’s probably as much about fitness and the runner’s high as it is about the people.” 

Whether it is walking or running, Kalu believes physical movement saved her life.  

“It gave me a different perspective about how I should take care of myself,” she said. “I only have one body, and this is it.” 

To join the HMSL Run Club, email Luci Kalu at ljkalu@houstonmethodist.org. For more information on Employee Wellness or to book a consultation with a Wellness coordinator, click here.