One Step 4 (RED)

Mission accomplished!

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  Running and working out (well, mostly running) continues to be a part of my daily life. Even though my days as a competitive athlete are behind me, there is still something that working up a sweat and clearing my mind does for my quality of life. That will probably always be the case -- at least I hope it is.

  No one makes me run. And it's not like it was before, when I had to stay in shape for my professional livelihood (or in college, for my personal livelihood during the always-unpredictable Ceal Barry practices).

  I run when I want to. When I feel good, I run. When I need a day to rest, I take a break. Simple as that.

Not every run looked like this.

  Every once in a while, however, it feels good to have a tangible reason to pound the pavement (personal sanity aside).

  In early October, through Nike+, I pledged to run at least 150 miles by December 7th.

  Bank of America, (RED), and the Nike+ running community joined forces to bring us 'one step closer to ending AIDS'. For every mile run and pledged, B of A would donate 40¢ (or one day of medication that can help an HIV-positive expectant mother from passing the virus on to her babies).

  I was already a member of the Nike+ community, so all I needed to do was push the pledge button, and log the miles.

  150 miles; it wasn't an enormous number, but it would take a commitment to get it done.

One mile = one day of medication.

  I was going to do whatever I had to do to meet my goal: whether it'd be sneaking in three-to-four miles on my hour-long lunch breaks, running in less-than-ideal conditions (rain, wind, cold, dark, all of the above), logging several runs on the dreaded treadmill (read: dreadmill), or finishing a long day with short run in on tired, jello-y legs.

  I said I'd get to 150, so you better believe that I was going to get there. I liked having something holding me accountable -- it made it easier to get out the door.

  That brings me to my point: I ran a lot more during these past two months than I would have had I not committed to this campaign. During the cold days, I would have said, 'It's too cold to run,' and stayed in. When I was tired, that would have been a good enough excuse not to get out the door. And so on.

  If the commitment/motivation is there (in anything), we will find a way to get it done. The Nike+ community was committed to the cause, and we accomplished this with our legs:

  One million dollars towards ending the spread of HIV/AIDS: not bad for a bunch of runners.

  Get out, get involved -- you never know what will get you out the door!