St. Jude Run

Last week-end was the Eureka to Peoria St. Jude Run.  Of course, in the year-of-COVID, the St. Jude Run was different.  No group of 75 runners making their way from Eureka to Peoria.  No charter buses.  No big send-off.  No packed Civic Center, filled with runners and their families.  No streets lined with St. Jude patients and their families, giving us that visual reminder of why we are running.  This year the run was virtual.  Everyone ran where and when and how much they wanted.  The feeling of the day was much different, but the purpose remained the same.  We run for the kids.  And COVID wasn't going to stop that.

Our small group got 11 miles in before the day got too hot.

Grandpa made it a priority to get some running/walking miles in with each of his grandkids throughout the day.  An early morning run with Staley and Elliot...

followed by a run/walk with Adelie...

followed by a run/walk with Briggs...

and ending with a mid-day scorcher of a walk with Liam, Caroline, and Lucy.  What a neat way to get all the kids involved!!

My little St. Jude runners also put in another half mile run/walk with their principal, Mrs. Brown.

When the day was over, Zach and I had both run 15 miles.  We had raised $27, 600 for the kids of St. Jude.  Our kids had gotten a taste of being a part of running for something so much bigger than them.  And the 78 members of the Eureka run raised $135, 000 to contribute to the overall total for all the runs of $4.6 million.

The run looked different, but it didn't matter.  We ran.  We raised money.  We shared the day as a family with the knowledge that this day isn't about us.  It's not about the running or the big group or the send-off or the fanfare.  It's about the kids and families going through the unthinkable, and it's about the dream of a world where childhood cancer no longer exists.