Run for Eli

Today's group run was a little different.  We met in a park instead of the usual fitness studio.  The owners of the fitness studio wanted to have a special run today to remember their son,Eli, who was stillborn one year ago.  Before taking off, we released light blue balloons which we wrote  messages on.  It was very simple, she said one, two, three and we let go of the balloons and they all floated upward. 
The run route started with a 3.1 mile loop that came back to the park because Eli weighed 3 lbs, 1 oz.  They had a lot of family and friends there who walked the 3.1 mile loop and many were pushing kids in strollers.  The run then continued on, for those of us in the running group, another 7.41 miles to equal 10.51 miles because Eli was born at 10:51.  They also asked everyone to wear blue and most people did.  It was really special and even though it was just my weekly long run, it really did feel like I was part of something special.  It was very nice.
After running, they invited everyone to join them and their family members in the park for snacks.  They were also taking donations for March of Dimes.  (Eli had a fatal genetic disorder.) 

While running the first 3.1 mile loop of the run we saw many students in cap and gown headed over to the big house for graduation!  That was really exciting!  We were all saying congratulations to them.  

I really didn't want to get up at the crazy early hour that my alarm went off but I'm now glad I did as this was a very memorable group run day.

Runner Nerd
ran for a purpose today