If you’ve been following my blog for the past little while, you probably know that we completed Run For Their Lives Vancouver Island 2013 on June 25th. This run started on June 2nd and took just a little over 3 weeks to complete.
The purpose of the run was to raise funds and awareness for three well deserving charities that are always in need of a hand up to continue their much needed services: The BC SPCA, The Mustard Seed Food Bank and Recreation Integration Victoria.
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone who has helped make this journey a success. Organizing a run like this is not an easy task as there are many different components. Apart from the physical aspect of running and training for it, there is promotion, public relations, co-ordination, fundraising and much more.
It has been an amazing adventure, I’ve learned a lot about myself as a runner and athlete.
Thank you to our corporate sponsors:
Westbrook Consulting Ltd.
Ecotrend Ecologics,
Aardvark Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning,
IMS FotoGrafix,
Island Batteries Inc.,
Five Star Paving,
Blue Baby Tax Prep,
Altech Machining and Repairs
I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Ian Simpson, who is a great friend and who conceived and planned the event together with me, knocked on doors with me selling tickets, photographed and videotaped this and contacted sponsors and who put in as much work behind the scenes on it as I did.
Another thank you is to Ian’s wife, Michelle, who is also a great friend and was extremely supportive of us. She helped a lot.
I could not have done this without Ian and his tireless work.
Above: Ian, Kara, Me, Erin Glazier (CTV).
As much as I am honoured by the really great, supportive comments on Facebook along the lines of “Yana, you are amazing!” and “Go Yana! You did a fantastic job!” I want people to know that Run For Their Lives was a team effort and that Ian put in a lot of time co-ordinating the event with me not to mention drive the entire Vancouver Island at 8-12km an hour for 3 weeks straight and going door to door with me selling raffle tickets.
A huge thank you goes out to everyone else who donated any amount of money to the charities that the run was for, as well as everyone who bought and sold tickets for the raffle. Knowing that if we didn’t sell enough raffle tickets, we would be on the hook for the prize money and therefore all help in that regard was greatly appreciated.
A big thank you to those who have helped get our story out there and spread the word: Gordie Tupper (CHEK News) , Erin Glazier (CTV News), Jon Szekeres (Jet FM), Matt Williams (Jet FM), Don Descoteau (Black Press), J. R. Rardon (Black Press), Alistair Taylor (Black Press), Brad Russell (The Port 1240)and Robin & Brian (107.3 Kool FM).
Above: CTV screenshot.
Thank you to Willie Mitchell (NHL player from Port McNeill), Arlene Dickinson (CEO of Venture Communications and Dragon’s Den panelist), Brett Wilson (Entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den panelist), Marty the Marmot (Victoria Royals Mascott and huge community event supporter) and Nutrition Club (Canadian Supplement Distribution Powerhouse) for sharing links about the run either on their Facebook pages, Twitter or both.
Above: Saanich News article by Don Descoteau.
Also thank you to Public Myth & CytoSport for their high quality products that I used during the run.
I’ve had some amazing personal bests during the run, one of which included covering 50km at once, which got us basically from Campbell River to Courtenay in one day. I got to experiment with various hills, some really big and some small so that by the time I had to run the Malahat, it wasn’t as difficult as I originally thought. I’ve also had multiple sub 4 minute kilometers in a row, which really made me realize that I’m ready to run faster.
This wasn’t a race. It was a personal goal that I am thrilled to accomplish and it helped raise awareness of our chosen charities.
If there is anything I’ve learned from this run is that anything is possible when you work on something with the right people and you don’t give up. Some things cannot be done alone and this is definitely one of them.
THANK YOU!!!