Karina's Running Boston for Fast Feet!
Tax deductible
Hi everyone,
I am running the 2020 Boston Marathon and am asking for your support in raising funds for Fast Feet NYC. Fast Feet NYC is an inclusive and adaptive athletics program in NYC (and, with your help, beyond!) serving kids and adults with cognitive and physical disabilities.
Fast Feet is more than just running - it is a team where athletes get to learn about themselves, make friends, and get support to do amazing things. It's a place for fun and joy, and a place for finding and pushing limits, like running has always been for me.
I'd like to share a story with you from last year's Boston marathon that I carry with me into this one. I went into that race woefully underprepared. I had spent the winter recovering from a series of minor health issues that kept me from running or training. January came and went and still I hadn't been able to start - a nagging hip injury from my NYC training cycle, a chest cold and cough I couldn't shake, a minor oral surgery.
By April I had managed to get in only 12.8 miles for my longest run - in a mis-measured half marathon race three week before Boston! But I had my mom at mile 12 and best friend Kate at mile 17. I began the race not knowing if I could finish, but knowing that I would start, I would go slow and steady, and without ego, I would step out if I thought I was risking injury.
What I found was about 4 hours (and 5 seconds) of meditation on the idea of limits. Though I had been running and racing since I was 15 years old, I stood on that starting line truly unsure of what my body was capable of, but curious and open to finding out. And what I kept coming back to was that we are not limitless, however much we get inspired to believe so, but that we are in fact bounded in real and different ways. And that is what makes the work and the effort meaningful, despite our finite and bounded human experience, we push and explore and try. And so I did.
Last fall, at Fast Feet NYC's 1-year anniversary party, a parent shared his meditation on limits to a rapt audience. How it felt, as a former competitive collegiate athlete, to hear from his son's doctor that he might never walk. The journey that they had been on before meeting Fast Feet NYC, physically and socially. And the joy and pride he felt, watching his son, on a quotidian weekday night, do something incredible - run a 400m lap around the track in McCarren Park. He refuted the catchphrase of Eliud Kipchoge, who had just broken the 2 hour marathon, that "no human is limited." There are limits, and there is joy and beauty in finding them. It is what makes us brave.
Please join me in supporting Fast Feet! Everyone ought to have a place where they can be brave. Running has always been that place for me.
About Fast Feet NYC
Want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money to benefit Fast Feet Running and Athletics, Inc., and any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.
More information about Fast Feet Running and Athletics, Inc.: Fast Feet NYC is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization that provides adaptive running programs for athletes with cognitive and physical disabilities. We partner with schools and communities to offer inclusive and supportive running programs that are free for families. We believe that access to athletic programming and healthy fitness activities should be available for all people, regardless of ability, location, or economic status.
I am running the 2020 Boston Marathon and am asking for your support in raising funds for Fast Feet NYC. Fast Feet NYC is an inclusive and adaptive athletics program in NYC (and, with your help, beyond!) serving kids and adults with cognitive and physical disabilities.
Fast Feet is more than just running - it is a team where athletes get to learn about themselves, make friends, and get support to do amazing things. It's a place for fun and joy, and a place for finding and pushing limits, like running has always been for me.
I'd like to share a story with you from last year's Boston marathon that I carry with me into this one. I went into that race woefully underprepared. I had spent the winter recovering from a series of minor health issues that kept me from running or training. January came and went and still I hadn't been able to start - a nagging hip injury from my NYC training cycle, a chest cold and cough I couldn't shake, a minor oral surgery.
By April I had managed to get in only 12.8 miles for my longest run - in a mis-measured half marathon race three week before Boston! But I had my mom at mile 12 and best friend Kate at mile 17. I began the race not knowing if I could finish, but knowing that I would start, I would go slow and steady, and without ego, I would step out if I thought I was risking injury.
What I found was about 4 hours (and 5 seconds) of meditation on the idea of limits. Though I had been running and racing since I was 15 years old, I stood on that starting line truly unsure of what my body was capable of, but curious and open to finding out. And what I kept coming back to was that we are not limitless, however much we get inspired to believe so, but that we are in fact bounded in real and different ways. And that is what makes the work and the effort meaningful, despite our finite and bounded human experience, we push and explore and try. And so I did.
Last fall, at Fast Feet NYC's 1-year anniversary party, a parent shared his meditation on limits to a rapt audience. How it felt, as a former competitive collegiate athlete, to hear from his son's doctor that he might never walk. The journey that they had been on before meeting Fast Feet NYC, physically and socially. And the joy and pride he felt, watching his son, on a quotidian weekday night, do something incredible - run a 400m lap around the track in McCarren Park. He refuted the catchphrase of Eliud Kipchoge, who had just broken the 2 hour marathon, that "no human is limited." There are limits, and there is joy and beauty in finding them. It is what makes us brave.
Please join me in supporting Fast Feet! Everyone ought to have a place where they can be brave. Running has always been that place for me.
About Fast Feet NYC
Want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money to benefit Fast Feet Running and Athletics, Inc., and any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.
More information about Fast Feet Running and Athletics, Inc.: Fast Feet NYC is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization that provides adaptive running programs for athletes with cognitive and physical disabilities. We partner with schools and communities to offer inclusive and supportive running programs that are free for families. We believe that access to athletic programming and healthy fitness activities should be available for all people, regardless of ability, location, or economic status.
Organizer
Karina Christiansen
Organizer
Katonah, NY
Fast Feet Running and Athletics, Inc.
Beneficiary