As Irene Cara said "What a Feeling!"

I have to say this last weekend I was blessed with an awesome opportunity! Okay, a bit of history first…after my Orientation at the JC YMCA last week, a friend and fellow runner mentioned to me a “small project” he was working on and asked me if I was interested in helping. The project is setting up, providing the equipment for and coaching Richmond homeless to run the Monument Avenue 10K on March 27th. Dumb question…of course immediately I was interested. I went home and blasted out to friends on FaceBook my need for shoes and workout clothes…having no idea what, if anything, the people who showed up to run would have, we needed to be prepared. The response was awesome! And things are still coming in…


Okay, so Saturday was the day. I met DB and MB at the JC YMCA, got there early so we could sort out all the clothes by size and gender – wow, we had some great stuff. My hubby came by with his donation – he cleaned out his closet and dresser just for this – and he added another entire lawn and leaf bag of clothes.

Then – it was time! Here they were – we were expecting maybe one or two but ended up with 10! WOW! We all introduced ourselves, passed out liability waivers and the race entry form and got all the paper work out of the way. It was a little sad – no one had an “emergency contact” and a few were worried about coming back because they saw the $50 race fee on the form and they knew they couldn’t pay it. We explained to them that we were taking care of their race fees, we didn’t want them to worry about anything but coming out to run and have fun!

Next we all split up among the crowd – and let me say this – my hubby who planned on dropping off his stuff and leaving was still here, and stayed the entire 3 hours helping (thank you B)..so we split up in order to work with all the people to make sure they had what they needed. I worked with the shoes at first. Have you ever walked up to a man who has nothing, handed him a new pair of shoes and seen a smile that glows brighter than the sun. I must admit I was a bit choked up. Think about it – what if you wanted to workout but you couldn’t because other than the jeans, thermals, 4 shirts, jacket and boots you had on (because if you left any of them at the shelter they would be stolen) was all you had? I won’t name names, but let me tell you this group of people inspired me. Shoes were going on, faces were smiling, clothes were being handed out, it was crazy. The group seemed a bit apprehensive of just walking up to the tables and taking anything, almost like they felt they needed permission. One young gentleman, probably late 20’s, I had paired up with him and was going through clothes. Got his shorts, a few shirts, a sweatshirt, shoes…then he stopped me and asked ever so quietly, “Miss Dee, other than these jeans I have on, I do not have any other pants, do you think maybe there is a pair of running pants here that I might try?” Okay, so as I teared up thinking about my 15 pairs of jeans at home I turned and spotted my hubs and I asked the young man what size waist he had – “30” he said and I yelled for Bob, elated knowing they were the same size (well, really Bob is more of a 31 now but he donated stuff he wasn’t wearing and those were 30” and don’t tell him I said this) – and there he went, he got windpants, coordinating shirt, jacket , etc. I had to, at this point, just stop for a minute and sit down.

It really is so easy to take the simplest of things for granted. The roof over my head, the car I drive to wherever I want to go, eating out, having the things I have – and here I stand in a room with 10 people who have nothing, literally nothing and they are so thankful for the tiniest things. Gosh I am so lucky to be part of this!

So we finished getting everyone outfitted, got them all laundry bags so we could take their clothes each week after the runs and clean them, found out what items we still needed to get together this week and then it was time – for the first run as a group!

DB was so elated and excited he could barely contain himself. This idea had been something he wanted to do for a few years and here it was – forming beautifully right before his eyes. We all headed outside and crossed the street and we were on our way. Some ran up front with DB the entire distance, some obviously ran too fast due to excitement and had to drop back and MB picked them up, and I stayed in the back with “T” and “R” – our walkers, and we chatted the entire mile (I know, unbelievable that I would chat, hahaha!)

As “T” and I ended the run in front of the Y, with the rest of the group standing there clapping as I announced that “T” and I demanded applause wherever we went, I was again so overwhelmed. As a runner, and I am a passionate runner, I cannot imagine if I didn’t have running in my life. And here before me stood 10 courageous people, who didn’t know any of us and took a chance and trusted us and let us in their lives.

Maybe some would say they are lucky that this group came together - not me – I would say I am lucky this group came together – it has touched my heart and soul and I can’t wait til our next run!

Run safe, run thankful, run happy!

-d