I haven’t been super vocal about my journey over the past 7 months, but I have taken a lot of steps to try and better myself. 7 months ago I signed up for The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile race in SF in order to challenge myself and do something that not a lot of people have done. Over the course of training I have logged over 500 running miles and have lost 40 pounds. I feel like I am close to being back in D1 swimming shape. This week The North Face EC team made the tough decision to cancel the race due to the smoke in the Bay Area from the Paradise Camp Fire. While this is inconvenient for people signed up for the race it doesn’t compare to what the people who are directly affected by this fire are going through, especially right around Thanksgiving. It is already the deadliest fire in California history and as of the 14th of November only 35% contained.

I have decided to run my own 50 mile race on Wednesday, November 21st while I am up in Oregon for Thanksgiving. Starting at 4am I will run a ~10 mile loop up Spencer’s Butte until I can’t run anymore. I will log this run on my Garmin and upload the run data to Strava for verification. I will provide the link to the run once completed. Here is a link to the loop I will be running: https://www.strava.com/routes/…Your donations will go directly to the North Valley Community Foundation which provides housing and basic needs for the people displaced by this fire. It is also the same foundation that The North Face donated the prize purse towards. I have pledged $1.00 per mile myself. Let’s use my fitness and suffering for some good!