My answer to that statement has changed many times over the last five years as I’ve completed two full marathons and thee half marathons, but this year it’s simple. My motivation for running came to me while I was at my grandparent’s house for Christmas. The house was full of people, full of life. My grandfather is the nicest, wisest, and most honest man I know. He seems so happy with what he’s done in life and so very proud of each of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He’s a man that I strive to be in life, because I know if I’m half the man he is, then I’m a pretty darn good person. My Uncle Doug was giving out CDs of sermons that he had preached throughout his life as a minister, and I thought what better way to pass on your life to your family than to pass on what you spent your life believing in. When I run, my family is in my heart and they push me. This room of life keeps me going. My grandparents’ house was so much more than a family celebrating Christmas, it was a family celebrating the life we’ve been lucky enough to have with each other. This year I run to “Celebrate Life,” the theme of my marathon team. For the first time in a long time, I can say I am happy. My happiness has been motivated by my running. This year I’m running in Nashville, TN, which is a city full of life. I am running with new friends in Nashville and with the thoughts and support of my friends from Greensboro. I run knowing how lucky I’ve been to have such a supportive groups of friends. I run because I have a family that’s loved and supported me through every step of my life. I run with the memory of ten wonderful years I spent with Payton, my wife who lost her life to Carcinoid Cancer five years ago. I run to celebrate every aspect of a life that I have been fortunate enough to have experienced in my past, and with each step I take, I am excited about my present and I look forward to my future. Yes, I run to celebrate life.
This is the fifth year that The Little Team That Could is running for The Caring for Carcinoid Foundation and my first year as co-captain of the team. There are many goals I have for this year, and if you can help in any way toward these goals, it would be wonderful. The first goal is very personal. It is to finish the half marathon in less than two hours (Words of encouragement are definitely welcome.). The second goal - my friends Matt and Paige made an absolutely wonderful video about The Caring for Carcinoid Foundation and why we started The Little Team that Could. This is a youtube video that keeps count of the number of views we accumulate. Please post on Facebook and forward our video to friends, as our goal is to reach over one thousand views of the video. I’d be ecstatic if we got over five thousand views!! And lastly, we’ve made an aggressive goal this year to raise $10,000.00 as a team. Any dollar that you can spare goes a long way in helping us reach our goal and helping The Caring for Carcinoid Foundation reach its ultimate goal of finding a cure.
I’d like to send a special thank you to everyone who’s supported me these last five years of running, and also supported me in my life. I owe you more than I can ever express in words.
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