Philly Half + City Year

Dan and I are running a half-marathon. I know. I kinda can't believe it myself. We've thought about it for a long time, and decided now is the time to do it. We figure it won't be getting any easier to train as we add more children, so now's as good a (or better) time as any.

I've always wanted to do a half, and, in fact, was training for one several years ago, but basically gave up running altogether for a while because my knees pretty much gave out after doing my first couple of 10-mile runs. And then with the whole being pregnant and having a newborn thing, well, let's just say that swimming felt a lot nicer. In any case, I'm stretching a lot and upping my mileage slowly and trying out some new shoes, so hopefully that will all help my knees keep up with the challenge.

I have to say, I'm not really a "runner" in any sense of the word, so we'll definitely be going for distance and not speed. But I'm okay with that. I'm mostly excited to complete this challenge, especially with that favorite of mine.

One of the most exciting aspects of this for us is that we're running on behalf of City Year. For those of you unfamiliar with this awesome organization, here's a blurb from their website:

"At City Year’s 21 locations across the United States, teams of diverse young people called corps members serve full-time in schools for 10 months working to improve student attendance, behavior and course performance in English and math...as tutors, mentors, and role models."

So basically, City Year takes on young volunteers to help disadvantaged students stay in school, graduate, and succeed in life. It's a member of AmeriCorps, which allows Americans to donate a year to service.

This is near and dear to my heart for a few reasons - as some of you know, I'm passionate about urban education, and currently work in that field. I think organizations like this are so important to helping students accomplish things they simply would not otherwise. Secondly, we have several friends who've done City Year who've attested first-hand to its awesomeness.

We've committed to raising $600 for City Year (by race day, November 20th) in order to race. We would, of course, be thrilled if you would like to donate, but would also love for you to just learn more about the great work City Year is doing by visiting their website or speaking with a corps member. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a shout.

Philly, ho!