4 in 5 Weeks For Team RWB

I'm having a blast running, swimming, cycling, strength training, etc right now, but I'm also keeping my eye on why I am free to do all of this.  You and I are free to enjoy the activities and lifestyles of a free country because every single day all over the world the men & women of our armed forces risk everything to make sure we retain that freedom.  I hooked up with Team Red, White & Blue through the Louisiana Marathon's website last year and have been running as one of their athletes ever since.  This is an awesome organization that helps our wounded veterans when they return home and rejoin civilian life.  Can you even imagine?  You spend all day every day living in a world where you don't know if the next road you drive will have an IED, or the next building you pass will have a sniper waiting for you.  You have the highly rigid and defined hierarchy of the military and it's discipline and structure.  The next thing you know, you are a wounded veteran returning home to a world with people like me that have no idea what it's like to have seen what you've seen, to have lived how you've lived.  How can you be expected to simply slip back into the everyday civilian life?  Wouldn't you hope, no, scratch that, wouldn't you expect that someone would be there for you to help you?

Team RWB is there for these veterans.  That's their mission, that's their joy and honor.  Team RWB pairs up their volunteers one-on-one with a veteran returning home.  This one-on-one relationship involves meeting for meals, assistance with attending medical appointments, attending local sporting events and other social activities, and just being someone for them to talk to, lean on and turn to.  This helps the veteran feel less alone as they reintegrate into civilian life.  I've seen countless stories on the Team Red, White & Blue Facebook page of these veterans, with the help of their advocates and Team RWB, accomplishing amazing things athletically; some with several war injuries.  This relationship and (if they choose to) becoming involved in athletic events helps give the wounded veteran the structure and drive they knew in their military life.  It helps them integrate easier by becoming involved in their communities and meeting people that appreciate where they've been and what they've done for us.

This mission is something that is very important to me personally.  See, I am a very patriotic person and I love my country and the men and women of our armed forces that defend us.  But I never served in our military.  I want to show the men & women that do sacrifice so much that I truly appreciate them and I truly honor them for what they've done for us.  For me part of that has been becoming involved with Team RWB.  I've been running for and raising money for them for about a year now and many of my friends have generously supported my efforts.  Right now there is not a chapter of the organization here in Kansas so I cannot get paired up with a veteran through their program, but I continue to hope that in the near future they will be here.  There are a few of us working to make this happen.  Why don't you get involved and help?  You can donate money to help support their mission, you can sign up to be a Team RWB athlete to raise money and you can join us in our efforts to bring a chapter to Kansas. 

Right now, I am training for an epic Fall season that I hope will help me raise some funds for the organization.  I will be running 2 Marathons and 2 Ultras (50k's) in a 5 week period!!!  A little intimidating for sure, but hey, no one will be shooting at me while I run so I don't really have it so bad!!  Here's the schedule:

1. Kansas City Marathon (10/20/12 in Kansas City, MO)
2. GOATz 50k (10/28/12 in Omaha, NE)
3. Weekend off
4. Pilgrim Pacer Marathon (11/10/12 in Shawnee, KS)
5. North Face Endurance Challenge 50k (11/17/12 in Kansas City, MO)

I hope to use that effort to raise $500 for Team RWB by the time I run the NFEC 50k and finish this stretch off.  Will you help me?  Any amount will help, no matter how small.  Just visit my fundraising site and make your secure donation, then be sure to check out TeamRWB.org and see how you can get involved as well.

IT'S OUR TURN!!!