The journey begins

Recently I feel like something is missing. I can't put my finger on it, but it feels like I'm lacking something.
A mission.
A focus.
A direction. 
This week I think I figured it out.  
I decided that I need to do something for others.  Something that gives me a greater sense of purpose.  Something that keeps me going and gets me out the door on days I'd rather just cuddle up with a good book and throw my shoes into the fire.  I decided that I can turn my love of running into a way to help others. To use it as a roundabout gift to someone I'll never meet.

For the last 10 years I've been running for myself, and while I've enjoyed it, I feel like I need to make my running about more than my own goals.  During my first year of running marathons, my husband and I ran and raised money for Team in Training.  I LOVED being a part of a group who had a common goal of helping others.  That was the missing piece.  I've missed the feeling of doing something for others, no matter how small it may be.  So I sat myself down and chose an organization to run and raise money for.
Let me tell you how incredibly difficult it was to choose a charity. There are so many out there, and each of them are worthy of my time and efforts. I couldn't decide if I wanted to raise money for veterans, for children, for animals, for water in Africa...ugh...there are so many and it was really overwhelming narrowing it down.
In the end I chose a cause that is close to my heart: children and cancer. The foundation I chose to raise money for is Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. 

If you've never heard of it before, here is Alex's story from the foundation's website:

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra “Alex” Scott (1996-2004). In 2000, 4-year-old Alex announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the Foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement, complete with thousands of supporters across the country carrying on her legacy of hope. In August of 2004, Alex passed away at the age of 8, knowing that, with the help of others, she had raised more than $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Alex's family - including brothers Patrick, Eddie, and Joey - and supporters around the world are committed to continuing her inspiring legacy through Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. 

This will be a blog about my journey to run 12 marathons in 12 months with a lofty goal of raising $12,000 for ALSF. I'm not sure I can even come close to that number, but you don't know until you try.  I've never run more than 2 marathons in any given year, so this will be outside my comfort zone and push my body to places I've never asked it to go.  I don't care about speed, just about the distance.  Some months I will race more than one marathon, and some months I will not race at all (like summer... marathons and summer do not go together in Oklahoma).  Some of my marathons will be organized races, while others will be done solo with just me and my thoughts. 

I hope you enjoy the journey.  Stay tuned, as the 12 month journey begins on November 28-29th with my first race:  a 24 hour race in Arkansas.  It will end in October 2015 with a 24 hour race in Oklahoma.  Both are big races to kick-off and wrap-up a great year of running and helping others.  I'm still working on the calendar of races in between, but there will be some fun ones along the way (I've already signed up for a pirate themed marathon in March...arrrrr, matey!).

Run on, my friends.  :)