HMF Runner Spotlight | Rob Polansky

Rob Polansky

Today we are spotlighting Rob Polansky, a Digital Content Producer at WFSB and former colleague and friend of Denise. He has already raised over $300 for the Foundation ahead of his half marathon run this weekend!

Polansky has been a runner for over 25 years, but when he graduated college and took a job at Channel 3 in 2005, his “running took a back seat in favor of ‘adulting’”. 

“Over the next nine years, I put on some weight,” he says. “I’d run occasionally, but it always ended with back pain.”

“Eventually, I dropped the 50 pounds thanks to the combination of structured running workouts and healthy eating,” and the help of a high school friend who started a coaching business. And, Polansky notes, Denise played an important role, too.  

“Over the nearly 15 years I worked with her, I took a lot of her advice about healthy eating to heart,” said Polansky. He recalls one time in particular working with Denise on a story about the health benefits of cauliflower.

“Being one of the show producers at the time, I bought a head of cauliflower as a prop for the story. After it aired, she gave it back to me and offered some tips about how I could prepare it.” Taking her advice, he ended up roasting it and said the result was “phenomenal.”

And we’re sure his race results this weekend will be nothing short of phenomenal, too! After all, Polansky is no stranger to distance running. In 2015 he ran his first half marathon, and a year later, his first full marathon. He’s even won a few 5Ks! And he plans to keep going. “I turn 40 in January and have no plans to stop,” he says.

For this race he has some added motivation. “I’m running in honor [of Denise], whose casual off-the-cuff advice had more of an impact on people, including myself, than she likely realized,” he says. “Helping raise money for the causes she cared about is the least I can do.”  

To support Rob and his fundraising efforts, click here.