Run Third ( #run3rd )

At the official runDisney Tinkerbell Half Marathon Meetup last week, we had the pleasure of hearing Sean Astin speak.  I will be honest, I did not even know who he was before I looked in up real quick on IMDB, and then I still did not recognize any of his movies.  What can I say, I am not a fan of the fantasy genre.  I was not really expecting him to speak about anything relevant to me, but I listened anyway.

Sean started telling us about something called "Run Third".  This was something I had never heard of and I was immediately interested in hearing more.  He explained that first, we run for ourselves.  We run for our health, we run for stress relief, we run for self esteem....  The reasons we run for ourselves are endless, but we all get something personal out of it.  He then told us that second, we run for our families.  Running makes us more healthy, it gives us patients, it makes us happier.  All of this our family benefits from too.  Sean then challenged each one of us to "Run Third".  He asked us all to run for something else.  That something could be anything we believe in.  Cancer research, suicide prevention, military support....the list goes on and one.

I could feel the crowd really take this in.  I could see the expressions on everyone faces--they got it.  My #run3rd is for Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  As you know, I have been running with them for over a year now.  I have raised over $7k so far.  Thinking back, the two half marathons I have done with TNT have been some of my favorites, and my best performances.

I love the whole concept of #run3rd.  Of course, I run for myself first--and that is ok.  Being healthy for my family is important, so of course they are my run second.  It feels so good to know that my running helps other, so the concept of run third makes so much sense to me.

Have you ever heard of #run3rd?  What do you think of it?  What is your #run3rd?

A dream is a wish...

--Amy