Half-Marathon

I decided about a month ago to run a half-marathon in May. As a kid I hated running and I ran 2 cross country races in junior high because they made the basketball team do it. It was the most painful thing I remember about junior high athletics.

Two years ago I decided to give running another shot. Honestly I did because some of my students were doing it and I was eager to bond with them. Then I ran my first 5k race and I kind of started to like. Of course it was hard to keep the habit up so I signed up for a bigger race to train for. Therefore the half marathon.

But it became so much more. I realized I couldn't just run the race, I wanted to run for a charity. So after searching for a charity to support, I came across AFSP: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I knew this was my charity to run for and run with because I have had some dear friends attempt or commit suicide, wrestle with depression, and I myself wrestled with depression several years ago.

My best friend Sol, knows too well the pain of losing a loved one to suicide. When Rachelle committed suicide, it felt as if the world came to a sudden stop. I had just met her, but she was a deep friend of Sol's. We had actually just hung out a few weekends before - laughing, eating Korean BBQ, making fun of students moving out of college, listening loudly to songs on the radio. So when I got the phone call that she had died, I could hear my best friend's heart break over the phone. We were confused, distraught. Everyone was. We wondered what would we have done differently? What could we have shared? What could we have said?

So it is for Rachelle, and for the many others facing this depression, that I run this half-marathon. It is for them that I put my own body through pain, to be in solidarity through their emotional pain. It is for them that I raise money for this organization to help those who have no where else to turn to.

I miss Rachelle. I was just getting to know here and we all miss her dearly. We miss her smile and her laughter and her sarcasm, and her wit, and her friendship. Join me as I prepare to run this marathon - reading my reflections on running, sending encouraging texts, even donating to support me. All of this can make a difference in the lives of people we haven't met yet, and the lives of their friends and loved ones.

To donate online click HERE.