Run a half marathon - Check!

If you know me personally, you know that I am not a runner. Never really have been. Although I am trying my best to become healthier every day, I never imagined running would be part of that.

So imagine my surprise when I was talking with my new co-workers about using the upcoming Colfax Marathon as an opportunity to raise money for the agency we work for, Urban Peak, and I say that I would be willing to do the half marathon portion! Urban Peak serves youth experiencing homelessness, and there isn't much I wouldn't do to support our mission.

But running? And a half marathon?

I went home after work that day and talked with Mike about it. He immediately said he would do it with me.

Holy cow!

Looking back, the entire experience was amazing.

Most importantly, together we raised $2,500 for Urban Peak in support of youth experiencing homelessness.

And there were so many other awesome parts of doing a half marathon. Mike and I got healthier. We are on a continual path of getting healthier and this really helped. I actually began to enjoy running. Just east of us is a city park called Sloan's Lake, and that is where I trained. Once around the like is about 2.5 miles. I would plug in my Latino hits list on Pandora and just run. It certainly wasn't easy at first, and there were training runs through the three months I trained where I thought I just couldn't do it.

And I kept at it. I checked in with other vegan runners around the country and I reached out to friends here who are runners. I learned not to over do it, and not to give up.

The day of the half marathon Mike and I arrived around 6:00am. We were both nervous, which is something we hadn't really felt until the day before the run. As the time came for the half marathon to begin we gathered with a few thousand others and waited our turn to start. One of the things we both loved were the continual references to "athletes", referring to us! We kept laughing about that.

Mike is a faster runner than I am so we knew before we started that we wouldn't run together. As we began I blew him a kiss, turned up Pandora, said a little prayer (basically asking that I not die during this attempt) and took off.

At first I thought of how far I had come. Then I started to think about how the money we raised would help others, folks who are challenged every day just to find shelter, food, acceptance and many days hope.

The last two miles were tough for me. At mile 12 a bunch of the firefighters from the Colorado Firefighters Calendar were lined up, shirtless, cheering us on. That helped.

I crossed the finished line and had tears in my eyes. Oh yes, I'm that kind of guy.

It was an incredible experience. I am pretty sure we will do it again next time. Sending a HUGE thanks to all of you who donated to our fundraising efforts and who gave us love and support!

Thanks for reading!