Thursday, May 13, 2010

Skopje Marathon 2010



On May 9, 2010, in four hours, Mike Fritz, Jeremy Lewis, Bart Brown, Ryan Rowlands and Steve Adams-Smith ran a relay for the Roma in the Skopje Marathon. Steve, visiting from Bulgaria, stepped in for Kim Brown and Ryan and Bart covered Susan's 7 km because of a last minute bout of the flu! All five guys made really good time and everyone ran the final 250 meters smiling! A huge heartfelt "thank you" to the runners! They did fantastic! I was so proud there were tears in my eyes! Almost as good as running it myself! Well, almost! If it wasn't for them, this wouldn't have happened!

An aside: Yesterday, as I was headed to a brief meeting at Sumnal I passed a boy, 8 years old maybe, with a backpack on his back, walking with purpose out of Sumnal. After the meeting, I spied him diligently working on his homework at a plastic table outside his hut. That, my friends, is what this was all about. Thank you!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Plan C and the Relay Team members

After an MRI confirmed that I had three herniated discs in my spine, I asked all of my running friends if they would run in my place for the Roma in the Skopje Marathon May 9. Ryan Rowlands, Kim and Bart Brown, Mike and Susan Fritz and Jeremy Lewis will be running in a relay team for the Roma! Thank you! In the meantime, I guess I'm "Rehabbing for the Roma!"

Macedonia's News Coverage of Half-Marathon

Please check out the television news coverage of the event!

http://sitel.com.mk/video/makedonija/petta-donatorska-trka-na-kejot-na-vardar

Run for a Cause Half-Marathon Video

Run for a Cause Half-Marathon

On April 10, Vanessa and Cullen Hughes, Ryan Rowlands, Matt Keener, Kai Rowlands, Haley Rowlands, Faik Arif, Ersin Ali, and Sabuhan Suljo all ran for the Roma for the "Run for a Cause," 1km, 7km and half-marathon! A special thanks to Gretal Schueller and Michael Rodman for volunteering to help at the event. The runners raised thousands of denar for Sumnal. Thank you to the runners and those who supported them! Together we can all make a difference, one step at a time, one denar at a time, to get children off the streets and into school!

Friday, April 9, 2010