RUNBORN 2023 theme is
“Run the good race!”

Yes, RUNBORN 2023 is going to be an actual race this year. This entire year has been a challenge for me, starting with a 5:00 a.m. trip to the ER in late January with chest pains and breathing issues that turned out to be a blood clot on my lung. Then followed that with tearing my left calf in an alumni basketball tournament in mid-March. Needless to say my training opportunity this year for a large scale challenge has not been great.

I was starting to wonder if God was sending me a message to slow down a bit and I was considering not doing an event at all this year.  My training was greatly diminished and I was coming up dry trying to think of what to do for an event.  But by the end of May my blood clot issue seemed to be under control and my calf was getting closer to 100%.  I did run the Lincoln ½ marathon in May, albeit much slower than my normal pace, but I was able to finish and didn’t really have any negative impacts from it.  And in late May I did have an idea that just kind of presented itself to me out of the blue, and not once but twice in a few days, and then a third time.  When I looked into it a little further I began to think it was a good challenge that would suit me well this particular year.  Most people I have mentioned it to have kind of discouraged me, but they were not exactly enthusiastic about my previous year challenges either. Imagine that! But as I thought and prayed about it for two to three weeks I felt “I just have to do what I feel called to do.”  And once again shortly after thinking about it that way, Fr. Wahlmeier had a great homily at a 6:40 a.m. daily Mass that inspired me, especially his final line that really stuck with me – “Find the one that God created you to be.”

That week I signed up for an organized Backyard Ultra race in Kansas City on August 11-13 called “Last Runner Standing”. Yes, the race doesn’t end until there is only 1 runner left. I do not expect to be THAT runner, but I thought the format of the race looked interesting, and although challenging, it looked like something I could attempt this year considering the type of training I have been able to do. It will be an event that will push me as far as I am capable this year. Plus I felt with my personal and work schedule I did not have time for all the planning and time it takes to organize and coordinate my own event this year, so if I wanted to do a RUNBORN 2023 challenge it would need to utilize an organized event. This just happens to be what God provided.

I am excited to try this new style race format. I have never done a race like this previously so just planning strategy for this race will be a challenge in itself. During the race I definitely will need to rely on the RUNBORN fundraising, and thoughts of the women and children it will support, as my motivation to attempt and finish another 4 miles. My goal is to complete 25 hours (100 miles) but that will definitely be a stretch, especially depending on the temperature and humidity in Kansas City in mid-August.

Here is a link to the event if you would like to see the format of the race and details of the challenge I will be doing this year for Runborn 2023. We will be posting information and updates on my race progress on facebook.com/irunborn during the race so you can watch my race progress virtually.

https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=103234

So I am going to “run the good race” to help women and children in crisis and this race will definitely help me “find the one God created me to be.” In 100%, leaving nothing out there!