Help Grace raise money

Running for me has always been about the joy and euphoria that comes from being outside. As I run, I watch the world around me burst into bloom, tan under the hot summer sun, return to the earth in autumn, and slow down — but not stop — in the chill of winter. When I run through different environments on new roads and trails, I am fulfilled by not only the people I pass along the way, but the quiet observations of birds swooping through the trees, squirrels playing tag on the trail next to me, and even the cobwebs I unwittingly plow through. Running is my meditation. Running is how I feel at peace.

And yet, I am all too aware of how the actions of humans constantly disrupt that idyllic picture. Development, deforestation, pesticides, fossil fuel emissions, pollution, and hunting/trapping have already changed these environments and will continue to do so. If they affect the world around me, then they affect me, too. I can't run without clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, a climate that does not push my body to the brink, and nutritious food to eat. 

It is so easy to feel like the action I take as one person is meaningless. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if I choose to cut out as much plastic as possible, reduce my gas and electricity usage, stop eating meat, or buy exclusively from local producers. Our current systems of living, working, and thinking need to be thrown out the window and built from the ground up in order to truly slow down the acceleration of environmental problems in the world today. But that can't happen in a day, and I believe that meaningful improvements can be made along the margins. 

Change starts with what I can control and the people I interact with. That is why I am running the 2026 Philadelphia Marathon with Racing for Sustainability to support the reduction of waste at races across the world. Single use plastic cups, printed materials, surpluses of race-branded apparel, and food waste are all variables races can control. Just because something has been done one way for a long time doesn't mean it's the right way. If there is one thing I have learned from extensively studying the environment and how we interact with it, it is that we are not as separate from "nature" as we would like to believe. The world is resilient, and so are we. We just need to do the hard work of supporting the health of the world, and by extension, ourselves. 

Thank you for supporting me as I run to make environmental issues more visible.