Fabulosi-T: Who Do YOU run for? Make Choosing a Charity COUNT!

If you run for a charity in an upcoming race, make it meaningful. Make it Count!

It needs to be matter to you. Focus your passion and follow your heart!

This post is my story on my Calgary Marathon charity choice ...

We all have a friend we have known forever. That special someone who is a kindred spirit - or even maybe even your spirit animal! If you are lucky, you have that friend who GETS you. And you, in turn, get them. And, who knows so many crazy things about you. I am damn lucky to have someone like that in my life - she and I can tell each other ANYTHING and let er rip and laugh our asses off. *insert blessed and grateful hashtags here*

But seriously...

I have had that crazy friend in my life for 36 years. We met at music camp in 1980! YES...truestory!

Her name is Cara and she is the absolutely one of my favourite people.

Over the years we have come and gone, drifted apart for a bit, but sort of never ever been far from one another. If that makes sense. We have gone through good and bad times...happy and sad, breakups divorce...you name it. She's had babies and raised them into young men. We are loud and silly and obnoxious and hilarious together.

The past 10 years ...

This is a slice of some of our fun...I will say that some pics from the mid 90s and early 2000s might not be included. Some of those photos are...erm...blurry. Or might be lacking sobriety. Maybe. And, yes, we can even be quiet when together. Rare, but it happens! And highly unlikely captured in recent photographic evidence.

Certainly the quiet and sedate nature of our friendship was NOT captured last month!

So this year when I was choosing a charity to run for at this year's Calgary Marathon, I had a fleeting thought. Why not the MS Society? How on earth had I not done this before?

Why MS, you ask? There are a few reasons...

Cara has MS. She was diagnosed in 1998. So if I was gonna run for someone...why not her? She has mostly been in remission, but it is not a disease that (in my opinion) is fair or cool or is easy to explain or understand. MS Sucks!
So it was clear that it was high time I put some miles in for MS.

I have always said I love to run because I CAN. So, I dedicate my 21.1 kilometres to a very special crazy lady who gets me like no other, Who never judges and always has a quick witted response at the ready. We were mutt and jeff in 1980 and 36 years later we still are. Sort of a beautiful disaster together. Oh, and we ARE funny. We definitely think so.

DONATE TO #TEAMCARA HERE!

I wanted to share some info about MS with you ... so I started to research.

I found CANADA has the highest incidence of Multiple Sclerosis in the WORLD!

WHAT? Well then, another reason to run for this charity. We need to find out WHY!

So WHAT IS MS? *From MS Society of Canada

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is thought to be an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord). The disease attacks myelin, the protective covering of the nerves, causing inflammation and can damage the myelin. Myelin is necessary for the transmission of nerve impulses through nerve fibres. If damage to myelin is slight, nerve impulses travel with minor interruptions; however, if damage is heavy and if scar tissue replaces the myelin, nerve impulses may be completely disrupted, and the nerve fibres themselves can be damaged.

Learn More about MS here

Trying to understand a disease that affects the central nervous system is complicated. You read up and are still overwhelmed. It affects everyone in so many different ways. After so many years of research, we still do not have answers. And we need answers.

And THAT is just a little glipse into WHY I am running for MS CANADA and #teamCARA!

Those miles are not just for me now...

I will be lacing up and running my 45th halfmarathon, and bringing Cara along for her first!

I cannot WAIT to show you HOW she is coming along with me ( it is still in the mail).