My Reason for Running

Between email, social networking, and my blog, some of you are going to be reading this same message over and over again.  I can't take any chances though.  I need to make sure I reach out to as many people as I can.  This past October, Kevin and I volunteered at a Comfort Zone Camp, a place grieving children can go to work through their pain and heal their hearts.  If you missed it, you can read all about our experience here.  I haven't stopped thinking about camp and those kids since then.  Fortunately we'll have the opportunity to volunteer again because they are planning camps in 2012, but I feel a strong need to do something else in the meantime.

One of the camp counselors I met has become a great friend.  She called me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I'd head up a team to raise money for the camp.  When she said I'd have to participate in a ten mile run I felt a little sick to my stomach but I couldn't help but jump at the chance to help.  I really don't like to run and I'm not at all good at it.  At a mile I feel like I'm going to die.  At two miles I'm sweating like a pig.  By mile three I can barely breath and my knees are giving out.  And mile four is the farthest I've ever made it and that was on one of my very best days.  But I figure that if these young kids can work through their grief, the least I can do is make it through ten miles in their honor, and in the honor of the loved ones I've lost.  I'm normally very uncomfortable asking people for money.  We're struggling just like the rest of the world so I squirm every time someone asks me, too.  But because it's so near and dear to my heart, I have to.  If you have anything to give, even a couple of dollars, please consider doing so.  Visit my fundraising page at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/staciebranton/2012soldierfield