Going into 2015 I had never completed a run of more than 1.75 miles in my life. With my busy work schedule and a new baby, I was finding it hard to find time to exercise and it was showing, so on a whim in April, I decided to sign up for 3 upcoming road races. I rolled up to The Children's Museum of New Hampshire 5K in early May with no training, no plan, and no music and was wearing a $20 pair of shoes and a Clyde Drexler basketball jersey and slogged through the 3.1 miles. I can honestly say that if I had not already paid for the other two races, I would have quit right there, but I had paid for them, so I went and ran those as well, both of which went worse than the first race. In fact, one was the Market Square Day 10k and at mile 4 almost stopped and walked the rest, but pushed through and finished. I decided I did not want to go out on such a low note, so I signed up for another race, it went better and I then started to run a little more. Towards the end of the year, I started to run before work and now can run 3 miles without stopping, which is something I was not sure was possible for me after those first few races.
In addition to running in 2015, I also increased the amount of work I was doing as a member of the board of directors for the Seacoast Community School (SCS) a local early childhood education (ECE) center in Portsmouth that serves children from 6 weeks old to 12 years old (mostly 6 weeks through Pre-K). I am a big advocate for ECE opportunities, and think it is a vital in countless ways, not the least in our math and science education in this country. These opportunities are especially limited in the state of New Hampshire, where day long kindergarten is not something that exists statewide (yes, you read that right). The SCS is accredited by The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), this accreditation is a very high bar, and of all centers that care for infants in the area (dozens) only 3 have this accreditation that among other things ensures an early learning curriculum for all ages. If you have children then you know that any childcare, not to mention high quality care that includes ECE opportunities, is VERY expensive and families with financial need are priced out. At SCS is it in the schools mission and vision to provide these opportunities to all families and they work to do this by subsidizing tuition for families with a financial need. Some of this is paid for through grants or with some funds from the state, but for the most part, it is charitable donations that help fund this program.
This is where you come in and where this post will hopefully start to make sense.
I would like to run with a purpose in 2016 and have set a goal to run, on average, at least a mile per day and weather/injury dependent have an ultimate goal of running 500+ miles over the course of the year. I am asking you to pledge to donate to SCS for every mile I run this year. You can pledge 1 cent, and if I get through my goal you would be donating around $5 at the end of the year, or you can pledge more and donate more. Pledge whatever you can afford and if you want you can pledge for other things too like me completing a half marathon or hitting a certain number of miles in a certain month, or anything really. Get creative and give my runs some additional purpose.
If you would like to pledge, here is the link: https://goo.gl/3wnMYh
Thank you very much for reading and have a happy new year!
