Fresh Air Fund – NYC Half Marathon Team
In October, I wrote about the Fresh Air Fund, a NYC-based non-profit that helps city kids experience the world outside NYC, with an emphasis on spending time outdoors. At the time they were trying to fill a few spots on their NYC Marathon team.
They recently contacted me again asking if I would let my NYC readers (and anyone else interested) know about their Half Marathon Team for the NYC Half Marathon on March 20. If you’re not familiar with the NYC Half Marathon, it’s an awesome race. (I ran the inaugural race in August 2006 – it started in the dark and then poured rain but was still a blast – here are a few photos.)
The race starts in Central Park and runs right smack dab through the center of Times Square, then down the West Side Highway and finishing in Lower Manhattan. This year, runners will line up with superstar runners like Kara Goucher (we like Kara!), Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman. Sweet!
Because it’s an awesome race, there’s huge demand. And because there’s huge demand, they have a lottery to get in. This year less than one-third of the lottery entrants got a spot!
So… if you wanted to do the race but were one of the 23,000+ people who didn’t get a spot (or if you didn’t enter the lottery at all) here’s your chance to run the race and raise money for a great cause.
Go to the Fresh Air Fund Half Marathon Team website or contact them directly at kbrinkerhoff@freshair.org or (212) 897-8890 to find out more information about joining the team and running the sold-out race.
In addition to filling their NYC Half Marathon team, the Fresh Air Fund is looking for host families for this summer. Sara from Fresh Air Fund said that host families are “volunteers who open their hearts and home to a child from the city to give them a fresh air experience they never forget.” If you’re interested, click here for a ton of information about the process, including a slideshow of photos of the kids headed out of the City last summer and answers to FAQ.