Two
years ago this Christmas, inspired by my Dad who completed his
first half marathon at age 68, I took an online running course with
the Running Room to learn how to train for and complete my first half marathon. A year later, inspired by my achievement,
Karen ran her first half-marathon with my Dad and I in Victoria and our teens Jake and Cassidy ran their first sanctioned 8K road race. Just after that event, one of the online running coaches I originally trained with, Stephen Price, told us of an idea he had to run
in Ireland in 2012 and suggested it would be nice if we could join him
for the Dublin Marathon. We had never met in person and never been to
Ireland.
The power of positive energy through health and wellness
is incredibly contagious. Inspired by Stephen, the enjoyment of the
running lifestyle and a desire to help others, we decided to go for it.
But we wouldn't just sign up and run - we'd make it an opportunity to
do some meaningful work to help others - and to demonstrate to our own
children how you can merge healthy active living with giving.
So
we created 2DreamRunners, to gather energy from many and focus it on
helping others - especially those that can use a hand up. We contacted
the Make-A-Wish Foundation BC & Yukon in our area and developed a
campaign for 2012 to try and raise $8,000 to grant a wish for a child
with a life-threatening medical condition. We have been fundraising in
2012 through our participation in 3 main running events that have built
in magnitude through the year:
Vancouver Marathon in May 2012 (Barry's first ever Marathon)
Sinister 7 Ultramarathon in July 2012 (team event)
Dublin Marathon October 2012 (Karen's first ever Marathon)
For
us, the half and full marathons symbolize in a very small way, the
challenge that children with a life-threatening medical condition must
face - although the kids didn’t choose their path. We hope that we can
provide some inspiration for anyone facing challenges in life and also
hope to make a difference in a child’s life by combining the energy of
many to grant a child a wish. Cassidy and Jake have
supported us through our training and participation in these events -
including volunteering to serve nutrition through the night to runners
at the Sinister 7 Ultramarathon.
In getting to our big day at the
Friendly Marathon, Karen and I will have run 3000 km's in 2012. Our
family will have travelled 9,400 km from western Canada to Dublin. With the help of Jackie Abello at Uniglobe Geo Travel, we
will have experienced one hundred thousand welcomes as we stay in
B&B's around the country for a week and we will have touched history
with an historic stay at the Ashford Castle in Co. Mayo. We will have
met our coach Stephen for the first time in person in Dublin October
27th. We will have calmed our nerves with a warm Irish welcome at the
International Breakfast Run.
On October 29th, we will run
Dublin, Karen will complete her very first 42.2 and we will celebrate
our special achievement of completing a year of running for Make-A-Wish
with our new Irish friends.
If you can, please consider a pledge to our campaign. Click on the link on the top right of our blog choose 2DreamRunners 2012 under support a specific BC Campaign and complete the rest of the donation form.
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