A Quick Update 2020-2022

Hello RJR Readers!

It has been quite a long time since I’ve updated here (2 years in fact!). I confess that I had pretty much given up on maintaining this blog during the COVID pandemic. I focused on family, work, and getting involved in Cub Scouts with my boys. The little extra time I had left over was spent actually running for charity instead of writing about it. I will try to briefly catch everyone up to what I’m working on now, because I’ve got some cool stuff to share in the next few months.

Since my last update in 2020, I recommitted to being a St. Jude Hero and ran my 2^nd Dopey Challenge for them last January (2021 Dopey was canceled so I deferred to 2022). We raised a little over $13,500 for St. Jude in memory of Luke, a boy in my neighborhood that lost his battle with Leukemia in 2021. I did some live reporting from the races, and when time allows, I will copy those reports to my blog here. For now, you can see them here: https://forum.touringplans.com/t/legs-for-luke-a-dopey-report-live-1-6-1-9-2022

That fundraising campaign was so successful that I was asked to be a St. Jude Ambassador for the North Texas region. Of course I agreed, and have spent much of my “charity time” in 2022 on this, which included a bicycle rally in June and a 5k walk/run in September in addition to several smaller events and meetings. It was great to stay plugged into the charity that is closest to my heart.

So what now?

First, let me back up just a bit. In late 2019 Make-A-Wish granted our family a “wish trip” to stay at Give Kids The World Village in Orlando and visit Walt Disney World. However, while still in the initial planning stages of our trip, the COVID pandemic roared into the world. All wish trips were put on hold. Finally, after almost 2 years of waiting, our trip was approved last summer and we are going later this year! We couldn’t be more excited!

When I discovered that Give Kids the World is a charity partner for the Walt Disney World Marathon events, I knew what to do: I joined their team and started training. We are going to first experience the Village as a “Wish family”, and then in January I’m going to run the Dopey Challenge for them. You can follow along here on my blog and social media (links below), and donate to my GKTW fundraiser here: give.gktw.org/JordanRunner22