Vitale running like Forrest Gump (for charity)

SEATTLE -- New Year’s resolutions can be pesky and persistent. Some are minute, others grand; some come to fruition, while many succumb to blind ambition. Off the field, Carson Vitale might have the loftiest of them all for the Mariners, and he’s determined to see his through.

Vitale, the club’s Major League field coordinator, plans to run 3,650 miles in 2021 -- a whopping 10-mile-per-day average -- but his objective goes far beyond benefitting his physical and mental health. Vitale will donate 50 cents per mile to the United Way of King County, $1,825 total, to benefit Seattle-area children experiencing food insecurity as a result of the pandemic.

United Way has massively upped its efforts in this area since schools shifted to remote learning in Washington last March. It now serves 2,000 meals per week among roughly 200 families with children who relied on those meals from schools before the shutdown. Most of the children are Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), many of whom aren’t originally from Seattle.

Vitale's resolution was sparked mere hours before midnight on New Year's Eve. Amid the mist of a trademark Seattle winter storm, he channeled his inner Yukon Cornelius -- persistent, resilient and with a drenched beard of ginger.

“It was raining hard, and I remember thinking, 'You know, I can do something so much more with these miles that I'm accumulating,'" Vitale said. "It just really opened my heart, my eyes and made me realize that I should be doing so much more, that I can be doing so much more, especially with how much baseball has given me. In that moment on New Year's Eve, I felt indebted to doing more and giving more. And I thought, ‘Why not just pledge, why not make a lofty goal and pledge some money and put my money where my mouth is?’”

Vitale resides in the Pioneer Square neighborhood just north of T-Mobile Park, and he connected with United Way in part out of proximity. He and his wife, Lucy, contacted the nearby organization and began packaging and delivering meals every Wednesday and Thursday to those families in October after the regular season ended.

“United Way, like many organizations, heavily relies on volunteers,” said Maddie Harris, food access associate at United Way. “And so, I think it's great and phenomenal. Carson is also going the extra mile to raise money for United Way, but it's really that we need volunteers, like Carson and Lucy, to get these meals out. Volunteers are the most important part of the work that we're doing.”

Vitale’s endurance running began in parallel to his volunteer efforts, back when he was managing in the Dominican Summer League for the Angels, starting from a mile here and there to eventually half and full marathons. He figured that it was a more productive way to invest in himself during his down time, and he initially supplemented the physical demands with knowledge, via podcasts and audiobooks, while on the trails. Eventually, it “became somewhat of an addiction."

“The dopamine rush that you get from finishing a long run is no different than getting a hug from somebody,” Vitale said. “It feels really good. … Your body is such a such an amazing thing. And your body true will truly follow your mind.”

That perspective is what prompted a reunion with Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto, who was the Angels GM when Vitale was managing for the Halos in the D.R.

Dipoto, who has always put a premium on baseball’s psychological aspect, hired Vitale as Seattle's Minor League field coordinator in October 2017. Vitale then became a focal figure in the club’s pipeline when it began its rebuild following the ’18 season and stocked up a farm system that has since become one of the Majors’ best.

“He understands that your ability to make that meaningful difference for your players in the community is only as good as your ability to embody that yourself,” Dipoto said. “And he lives it every day. More than anybody that you’re going to run across in baseball -- he is all about kind of walking the talk. And he's always been that way, and I think he's a great example of what we want our young players to be as they move through the system in connecting with their communities.

“He's not making millions of dollars. And he goes out and he finds a way to make an impact like someone who is contributing from a pool of millions of dollars, and it's really an admirable thing.”

Dipoto has vowed to match Vitale’s donation to United Way, as has Mariners Hall of Famer Dan Wilson. And others are welcome to join the fundraising efforts. So far, Vitale has raised $1,321 externally, while racking up 487 miles on the pavement, an average of nearly a half marathon per day -- a by-design strategy to stock as many miles early in the year because now comes the true challenge: maintaining miles during the demands of the baseball season.

Vitale on Sunday heads to Spring Training in Arizona, where his daily demands will increase significantly as Seattle eyes a critical season in its step forward toward contention. He plans to become a regular on the paths in the Phoenix area, and then once the season starts, on the road while on the road. The most Vitale has ever run is 50 miles in a two-day stretch. He could very well be the Mariners' bona fide Forrest Gump when it’s all said and done.

“I'm just going to try to do as much as I do, as many as possible, knowing that at this point, it's not about me running," he said. "It's about me helping kids and families in Seattle, and just attracting as many people as I can. If I hit my goal, great. But the idea of the endeavor wasn't to run as many miles as I could -- it was to help as many people as I could.”