Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Putting it in perspective

This year, I'm going to run the 'double' at the Harry's Spring Runoff 5K and 8K races. This race means a lot to the runner in me, it's the first race I ran years ago. The hills of High Park inspired dread but also sparked a love for this sport.

My company is the media sponsor for this race, and since I signed up earlier this year to run the 5K with friends, my workplace picked up the tab for me and my co-workers to enter one of the races (one runs at 10 a.m., the other at 11 a.m.). We put our weight behind it because Harry's is run in support of the fight against prostate cancer, a very worthy cause.

Last week, I got a gentle email company reminder that it would be great if we could raise money for the race. I typically donate to many causes, and cancer (which has touched my family) is one I routinely give out money to every year in different venues. I love to sponsor friends who are raising for these causes. I put the reminder in the back of my mind, deciding to sponsor myself and also maybe ask a few friends to donate.

Then tonight, I find out that our fellow run blogger, Marky Mark, posted a few days ago about his latest challenge, his fight against cancer, and is raising money in the same race.

My thoughts go out to Mark, but there is something we can all do. Tonight, I took the registration fees I would have paid to run the 8K, plus a few bucks more, to sponsor both Mark and myself. Please consider donating, if not to one of us, then to any cause that could use your help.

2 comments:

Marky Mark said...

Kenny, thanks so much for this post. I'm truly touched. The races we run in are wonderful events for various reasons, including the challenges they pose for us runners, but also for the charities that they support. And it feels great to know that while running is an individual sport, we do it as part of a community of other like minded people and remain connected. Thanks again!

Marlene said...

Great post, Kenny.

With all the races I have run, it's not often that I give a great deal of thought to the charity... this definitely brings it home and puts things in perspective.