running to end hunger: pittsburgh half marathon 2015
In 2014, I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon half for the first time, participating in the Run for a Reason charity program. My organization to support was the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, and my goal was to raise $350. I raised $710, more than doubling that.
I’m running the Pittsburgh Marathon half again this year, with the intention to PR (and this time, the training to back that up). And I’ll be raising money for GPCFB again. I have set my goal at $715 – I’m training to shave 5 minutes off my running PR and want to add five dollars to my fundraising goal. Of course I’ll be happy with larger PRs in either category, but this is what I’m working toward.
Having a PR in the half marathon after a crazy running year in 2014 is really important to me. Important enough that in the year of ‘margin,’ I’m calling it a big goal. So I am putting my legs where my mouth is and amping up my training. I’m participating in a training program with Elite Runners & Walkers that has amped up not only my days of running each week, but my mileage and my concentration on form and pace.
But at the end of the day, I acknowledge that running is a privilege. It’s a privilege for me to have enough food at my house to carb load before a long run and to never worry about where that post-race meal is going to come from. Let alone a regular dinner on a regular day.
That’s why it’s really important to me to support the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. I’ve written about this before – about why whether or not we eat should not based on what we deserve. There are people in our community – probably people on my own block – who don’t have their basic needs met.
And because of the work of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and its member agencies, 26.5 million pounds of food are given annually, to 360,000 people. That should shock you for two reasons. One? That’s a LOT of food. They do amazing things with what they have. Two? That means at least 360,000 people in our southwestern Pennsylvania, 11-county radius were hungry last year. And there were likely many more. 360,000 people with faces and lives and families and stories. Who didn’t have enough to eat.
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to support the GPCFB through my attempt to PR on May 3. You can use this link, or use the sidebar over on the right side of the page. Lest you think I don’t put my money where my mouth is, I’ll be making my own donation in mid-January, in honor of my 32nd birthday.
Just as a running PR of one second is still a PR, a donation of any amount matters – especially since the GPCFB makes the money go so far with its programs and partners. Consider even just $5- and thanks for your contribution of any size!