Saturday, September 17, 2016

The 50 Mile Challenge - Run Eugene Run


Today was a pretty amazing day. So much work leading up to this event by so many people. I am so humbled and grateful. Waking up this morning I was a little depressed. Race mornings are always so exciting...and stressful. But today I knew I should be the one who was doing the running......but I can't. Not because of nearly 50 days ago I ruptured my achilles ending this year's challenge for me.

Thankfully some wonderful people and supporters helped me shift my goals and agenda this year and they picked up where I left off. They were able to accomplish the 50 Mile Challenge as a relay on my behalf. I'm so THANKFUL to Unify Health and Fitness for their support and coordination.


The morning started off with a brief talk sharing my story about diabetes in my life and how we got to this 50 mile challenge. It was nice to see all the support of approximately 25 people getting ready for this challenge. As always.....I had to take a pre-race photo. I needed a wide angle cell phone! Didn't get every in the picture.


The course was a quarter mile loop around the office park. It was a last minute decision to do this race as a group since my injury. It wasn't easy to find a spot to run as a group. Everything required reservations and permits.....I thought it was a loss until Melissa and Brian of Unify offered to create this run at their complex. There was no clue how many runners would show up a plan was developed to use sugar cubes as a marker of how many laps were completed. 200 laps were required and as each runner/walker completed a lap, they picked up a sugar cube and dropped it in the bucket.

NO EATING OF SUGAR CUBES SAYS THE DIABETIC!



So many were doing the original challenge of running miles up until this day. The added focus for this event was the ability to run through their gym after every lap or every other lap (their choice) and do a circuit of exercises like a boot camp. What a brilliant idea.


And the reward after everyone's hard work.....THE BLING! Our first medal, our first race, our first everything. Will there be more? I think so. Challenges for everyone by virtual racing, running or walking. Watch for some upcoming events. We hope you will join us as we continue to fight diabetes.
Thanks again to everyone for helping us start our dream. Without each of you we couldn't have done it.

RunEugeneRun.com
Eugene Thompson
Founder + Marathon Runner





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