5th Annual Birthday Challenge-46K

This year marks the 5th Anniversary of the Birthday Challenge (for charity).  Next weekend, in Greensville, SC, I'll be running (one way or another) 46 kilometers.  Rather than ask my friends and family to make donations, this year I will be asking everyone to do a good deed sometime in the next few weeks. If you are in, leave a comment on one of my Facebook posts (maybe letting me know some details of your deed) or chat with me about it.  And, if you would just as soon donate some cash and  forget about the whole thing (as some of you have mentioned), then, yes, my PayPal link can be found below.  Any monies collected with go to Dolly Pardon's Imagination Library (in memory of Pat's aunt Mary, a life-long promoter of literacy).  If you don't know about this great literacy program that provides a monthly book to kids from birth until their 5th birthday, you can read up here https://imaginationlibrary.com/

Here is a picture from last year's 45K!

If you are new to the Birthday Challenge concept, you can read more about it in the post below.

The Birthday Challenge: A Brief History

How The Birthday Challenge was born:

June  of 2012 marked my daughter Casidy's first birthday and my 42nd birthday.  This seemed momentous to me--not only that my baby was a year old but that everyone in our house had survived that first year.   At the same time, I was looking for a way to reduce the amount of "stuff" in my life.  Babies add a whole 'nother layer to consumerism---they allegedly need all sorts of accoutrements like cribs, changing tables, diaper warmers, etc.  In short, my "minimalistic" lifestyle was being threatened, big time!  In honor of Casidy's first year of good health, I decided to donate all my birthday gifts to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  And, that might have been it, if not for Cameron Lane.  A few months before our birthdays, Cameron was celebrating her own milestone birthday by soliciting donations for several charities and then walking 60K to earn those donations.  I loved the idea and stole it outright but added my own wrinkle (Casidy would also "run" a kilometer, and I'd attempt to run my entire route).  Everything went perfectly, and we raised $1080, mostly just through word of mouth. 

Since then, I've done a birthday challenge every year!  I plan on doing it until I simply can't do it anymore. Then, I'll designate a replacement.  If I'm not dead.

July 2012--42 kilometers in Long Beach, California

July 2013--43 kilometers in Athens, GA

July 2014-44 kilometers in Harrisburg, PA

July 2015-45 kilometers in Atlanta, GA

This year, I'll be doing my 46k in Greensville, SC on July 9 or 10th.

Join me by doing a good deed or making a donation!

Thanks to everyone who has consistently supported this crazy quest!