Restaurateurs find workouts suit their tastes

Five and a half years ago, their childhood friend, Matt Long, a New York firefighter and fellow restaurateur, was crushed by a 20-ton coach bus on a Manhattan street while biking to work on Randall’s Island.

Long, a seasoned runner and Ironman triathlon competitor, was impaled by his bike. Nearly every bone in his body was shattered. Doctors say he lost 6 gallons of blood in a 12-hour period.

Long was given less than a 5 percent chance to live.

But 40 surgeries and a couple of years of physical therapy later, Long, in 2008, ran the New York City Marathon.

In October, he released “The Long Run: A New York City Firefighter’s Triumphant Comeback From Crash Victim to Elite Athlete.”

After reading it, the Atlanta trio vowed to intensify their physical pursuits and tweak their diets.

First up — and accomplished — was the Georgia Half Marathon in March. Next is the Gulf Coast Triathlon in Panama City on May 7, a grueling combination of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and 13.1-mile run. And they’ve signed up for the New York City Marathon in November, which winds through Buero and Roness’ old Brooklyn neighborhood.

“When we first started talking about [training] and you look at Matt, the old expression of ‘You take one step at a time’ really became true [for us],” said Segal, a longtime formal athletic competitor who has helped motivate his friends. “How do you get back from being a cripple in a hospital bed to running a marathon, like [Matt] did? We’re fully able to do it. You run three miles, then five, then eight, then 13. It’s just one step at a time. We’re blessed with everything physically. The only thing ever holding us back is our own thoughts.”

For months, Segal, 47, Roness, 46, and Buero, 45, have committed to exercising at least six days a week, usually between two and four hours a day. They swim, they run — either on treadmills or outside, sometimes in Chastain Park — and they bike dozens of miles.

Because of their erratic schedules running Food 101, three locations of Meehan’s Public House and the soon-to-open Italian restaurant Cibo e Beve, the threesome is either perpetually clad in workout clothes or keeps them stashed in the car to take advantage of impromptu exercise opportunities.

(A fourth restaurant partner, Mark Stillman, 40, often mirrors their exercise regimen from his home outside Orlando.)

But fitness aside, living healthily must have even more challenges for people surrounded by food all day, right?

“Diets are tough,” Roness said with a smile. “I probably have to lose 5 pounds before this [triathlon] to make it easier on myself. That means no beer, no desserts.”

“We love eating,” Buero added. “It used to be that after a good workout, the best thing was two or three beers. Or a doughnut. But working here [at Food 101] has been great because the menu has a lot of tuna, chicken, some good carbs. My drawback is being a condiment freak.”

None of the guys looks as if weight is an issue, though Buero happily notes that he’s lost about 7 pounds since starting intensive training and eating things such as six egg whites, milk and a slice of dry toast for breakfast, and ahi tuna for dinner.

Roness has switched to the egg white veggie flatbreads from Dunkin’ Donuts for his morning meal, while the smaller, sinewy Segal sheepishly admitted that he eats everything “except blue cheese.”

Buero chimes in to expose the truth about his pal Segal.

“He’s being modest. He’ll do a 50-mile bike ride and casually mention that he did a nine-mile run, and then he’ll come to the restaurant and order three entrees and eat two-thirds of them,” Buero said.

But for this trio, accomplishing the Panama City event and the New York Marathon is about more than physically exhibiting the inspiration they received from their friend Long.

“It’s a bucket list item, that’s for sure,” Buero said of the marathon, “and we’re not getting any younger.”