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!
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