On March 24th in Gonzales, Texas I will set out with my biggest running challenge to date by running 200+ miles of the Texas Independence Relay course as a solo runner. In order to figure out why I would do such at thing one must first understand what TIR means to me and what drives me to run.

 This will be the 10th year of the event and my 9th time participating. TIR has a special place in my heart. I credit the inaugural event in 2008 as the place where I regained my love of running. I had just started working at HCSS and within the first 2 weeks I was approached about joining the team. I was on the tail end of a personal weight loss journey and was struggling to turn my life around by becoming more healthy.  After losing 70 lbs over 2 years through mainly walking and making better food choices I was certainly on my way but I was in no way in shape to participate in a weekend running team relay. I struggled a lot during those 2 days but I deep down enjoyed every minute of the camaraderie that was formed with my new teammates and also the feeling of getting out into the open country. Even though I at times struggled to do more than a walk I started to feel an amazing sense of freedom and empowerment. The pain that I felt, the sweat that was poured that day helped to ignite the flame inside me to redefine what I previously thought was possible and to discover a inner strength that I never knew existed. 

Since that faithful weekend my running has taken me across the world. I have run from the land of a thousand hills to the scorching desert of Death Valley. I receive the same sense of joy from traversing the streets of Houston that I do in the mountains of Colorado. Each place I visit is emblazoned into my mind no matter the speed at which I pass it by. I truly enjoy every minute of it and am always looking for ways to stretch the envelope and put my heart and sole in everything that I do. Every year when I returned to TIR I would challenge myself to give it everything that I had. Each year I became faster. Each year I ran more and more.  Through the years I have probably ran every one of the 40 individual legs. Now this year I will run them all and I will not stop.

Why We Snowdrop:

I first learned about the Snowdrop Foundation about 2 years ago and I immediately knew that I had found a cause to get behind. The struggle that I will face during my run is nothing compared to the struggle that a child goes through during their fight over cancer. I would take that pain on myself ten fold if I thought it would help. When I run hours on end I often think of the children of Snowdrop. Their fight becomes my fight. That next step that I take we take together. 

So on March 24th at 6:00 AM when I line up at the start line in Gonzales, Texas I wont be alone. I run for them.