I'll {gladly} Give You My Calories

Growing up involved in sports, the act of running for fun never made an ounce of sense to me. Running was obviously meant for punishment. Various running drills like ladders, suicides, bleacher sets, mile sprints and early morning runs were attached to every dropped catch, missed free throw and most definitely every missed serve.

Volleyball 2006

Softball 2005

My calves remember very vividly having to run 300 sets of stairs for missing a day of volleyball practice to attend a Hales Family reunion. And, I have to apologize now to every girl on the Spanish Fork basketball team for having to put up with my horrible free throw percentage. I'd say I was about 1 in 3, and that resulted in hundreds of running ladders over those high school seasons. I'm really sorry.

But now, without the option of playing sports to burn calories, I have found a somewhat beneficial relationship with the sport of running. Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy it. But, I find joy in its benefits. Who doesn't find happiness in burning calories? Especially after eating a ridiculous amount of chocolate chip cookies.

So, this weekend, in order to support a great organization and to participate in an event that benefits me and those in need, I'm running in the Pepsi Refresh Community Action 5k.  This run is supporting the food bank that serves Utah County. Most people don't realize that the Utah Food Bank ONLY serves Salt Lake. Community Action is the food bank that serves people in our neighborhoods.

In order to burn calories for me and donate {food} calories to those in need, I'm running the most sensible 5k of the season. And, because my sister Alyse is so in shape these days and my parents are always in support of promoting health {thinking back to the summer my dad said he'd give 100 dollars to anyone who lost more than 10 pounds in his time frame. haha.} we are running as a family.

My dad is in it for the t-shirt. My mom is excited to donate to the food bank, {she feels guilty because she was lounging in Mexico during the Scouting for Food Drive}. My brother-in-law Bob is excited  because my parents will probably take us to lunch afterward. Alyse is excited because she'll probably get a PR in this run. Brent's excited because he's sure if something's sponsored by Pepsi, he will get free Pepsi {I never buy carbonation}. I'm excited to burn calories. And little sister Ayrika? She's excited cause she'll probably beat us all.

So, if you are free this weekend and want to help support a nonprofit that serves people in your city, come run with me! And if you aren't in shape, even better. Neither am I! So far, Brent hasn't been on a run since his mission {almost two years ago}, but he assures me he is ready.

The race is this Saturday in Provo at Community Action Services and Food Bank. Its right next to the Provo Mall. You can sign up online here or show up the morning of the race!