Support Back on My Feet (and me) in the NYC Marathon

I just did something I said I would never do again, I signed up to run a marathon for a charity. In 2014 I ran the Chicago Marathon for Team Paws Chicago in honor of my vet school dog Sierra. I was very passionate about raising money for an animal rescue, but I still felt weird asking people to donate money. 

Renee and I in NYC in 2018

I have wanted to run the NYC Marathon and tried for the lottery three times (this year being the third), and didn't get in.  I just figured I would keep doing the lottery until I got in.  But this year, my friend Renee got  in. Initially I didn't really want to train for a marathon. I also have to admit there is a part of me that couldn't imagine training for a marathon without my training buddy Endo (for those of you that don't know she was my shepherd/lab mix that we euthanized in 2021).  But suddenly two days ago, something in me switched and I felt this urge to do NYC. Maybe it is everything going on with the world and needing something to focus on... plus, the marathon is 2 days before Renee's 50th birthday (I turned 50 in February) so what a great way to celebrate this milestone.   Also, training for a marathon is a lot of work on the body and I am not sure I want to keep doing marathons, so this is a bucket list thing for me. 

Next up was figuring out a charity that I could run with to get entry into the marathon.  There are many charity partners, and many are already full.  I knew I wanted to run with a charity that I felt strong about and felt comfortable asking people to donate to.  There are a ton of charities and many of the ones I clicked on were already full. I started to get nervous I wouldn't be able to find one and I would have to give up my goal of running NYC (I have already figured out my training plan). This morning I went to the charity page and started to click through every single charity and then I came across Back on My Feet which was showing that they still had slots available. This charity focuses on the unhoused and promoting fitness and eventually disrupting the cycle of homelessness. The volunteers work with the unhoused to get them involved in a running program and eventually work with them to provide training and assistance with housing and finding a job.  I was not sure how I felt about this model until I listened to this podcast with the CEO of Back on My Feet. This programs initially works building trust and community between the unhoused members and volunteers through running. The running also helps to build confidence with the members. This is the beginning of the member's path of getting back on their feet with the eventual goal of find housing and a job. They are currently working in 15 cities (including Atlanta) and they have a great success rate with 70% of members employed and house, 83% of members maintain employment, and over 7,500 jobs and homes achieved. 

So now the part where I ask you to support me by donating to Back on My Feet. I am doing the same thing I did for the Chicago Marathon, sponsor me for a mile of the marathon! So as the miles increase, so does the difficulty and the cost to sponsor me! During the mile that you sponsor I will be blaming you for the pain that I am in and I may send you photos of how miserable I look.  If you would like a specific mile (and it is available), please let me know. Feel free to donate more than is required than the mile you want to sponsor! Updates on what miles are taken can be seen on the right column of this blog or on Back on my Feet fundraising page. 

I look forward to running every mile for you!

<0 Ana Lauer (Journey to the start)

1 Mike Appel (Buy a bridge: Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge)

2 Mike Appel (Buy a bridge: Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge)

Mile 8 of Chicago:
not totally miserable

3 Cari Beesley (Buy a borough: Brooklyn)

4 Vanessa Feagin

5 Kim Groebner

6 Juli Goldstein

7 Grishma Kharod

8 Mike Stoddard (Buy a building: Barclays Center)

9 Catherine Garcia (Buy a building: Brooklyn Academy of Music)

10 Mara and Janice

11 Jeannie and Jerry

Mile 18: pretty miserable

12 Hilary Gaughen

13 Jessica Bremer

14 Dianna Blau (Buy a bridge: Pulaski Bridge)

15 Morgan Brown (Buy a borough: Queens)

16 Dana Haberling (Buy a bridge: Queensboro Bridge)

17 Jono Berry

18 Rita Traxler

19 Jules Crumley

20 Suzy Kohin (Buy a borough: Bronx)

Mile 23 with my mile 23
sponsor Suzy!

21 Andrew Berry (Buy a bridge: Madison Avenue) 

22 Bob Broilo (Buy a borough: Harlem)

23 Jane and RJ (Buy a borough: Manhattan)

24 Nick and Nova (Buy a museum: Guggenheim)

25 Amy McMinn (Buy a park: Central Park)

26.2 Dad

>26.2 Renee Galloway (crawl back to hotel)