The Nashville Joggler

As 2009 comes to a close, I can now say that I have been running and joggling for more than a year!  It is hard for me to believe how much I now enjoy running and it has been a lot of fun joggling eight races this past year.

Joggling the 2009 Komen Race for the Cure

I just updated my upcoming races schedule and am excited about 2010.  My main goal is to joggle the Country Music Half Marathon again in April and to do significantly better than 2009 (i.e. less cramping and walking!).  Along the way, I’ll be joggling some of the same races I did this year.  A new addition to my race schedule is the Cherry Blossom 10-mile Run in Washington, DC, which will be my first race outside of the Nashville area.

I’d also like to mention that I am joining Run Barefoot to train for the half marathon.  No, we won’t be running barefoot, but we will be raising money for Barefoot Republic.  I’ll be writing more about this soon.

Enough about me.  What races are you looking forward to this coming year?

Today, I joggled my seventh 5k.  Many of the races I have run raise money for various causes.  In the past month or so, I have joggled several races with Team Catch It Early specifically for races that raise support and awareness for cancer.  Obviously, all types of cancer are serious, deadly, and require funding and research, but lung cancer stands out for me because I lost my father to this disease less than 3 years ago.

Earlier this week, I discovered the Hank Thompson Trek and Treat 5k which honors the Hendersonville mayor who died from lung cancer last year and raises money for Uniting Against Lung Cancer.

The mission of Uniting Against Lung Cancer is to fight lung cancer by funding innovative research and increasing awareness of the disease. In only six years of funding, Uniting and its partners have awarded over $5 million dollars in direct research grants to individual researchers at top cancer centers and raised awareness of lung cancer across the United States. The first nonprofit in the U.S. to identify and cultivate lung cancer research, Uniting has quickly become recognized as the “venture capital” source for lung cancer research in the U.S.

Uniting carries out is mission by:

• Awarding individual research grants
• Promoting and recognizing excellence in journalism about lung cancer to increase awareness about the disease
• Collaborating with other not-for-profit organizations seeking a cure for lung cancer
• Ending the smoking-related stigma that plagues victims of lung cancer diagnosis

Although the race is over (and I hope to have a race report up soon), you can still donate to Uniting Against Lung Cancer through my runner profile page.