No Category selected iRun a “Mono Loco” marathon for Possibilities International

    iRun a “Mono Loco” marathon for Possibilities International

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    RunningForAReason
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    The following is a guest post by Wendy Pauls, a.k.a. Phil (the crazy monkey!)

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    Back in March of this year, I was on a volunteer humanitarian aid trip to Guatemala with Possibilities International (PI).  During an excursion to a nearby tourist city, I was introduced to a great little restaurant  called “Mono Loco”.  Mono Loco, I came to learn, is Spanish for “crazy monkey”.  Little did I know that eight months later, I would become the  “mono loco” to help raise funds for PI.
    As an avid runner,  and a running coach for the last few years, I have helped lots of newbies move off the couch and across the finish line of various races in the area (very exciting indeed!!). For the last couple of years, I have been able to combine my roles (runner, running coach and PI supporter) at a single event – The Road2Hope Race weekend in Hamilton.
    For the 3rd year now, Possibilities International is a Community Partner charity at Road2Hope. We invite PI supporters to participate in one of the events (1K, 5K, 10K, 1/2 or full marathon) as a runner or walker and ask them to collect pledges for PI.  ALL pledge money goes directly to PI to help fulfill the simple dreams of the hurting, helpless and hopeless in various countries around the world.

    Last year, we had a team of approx. 50 people running/walking on behalf of PI.  This year, our goal is to exceed 100 participants for the PI Dream Team.  At the time I am writing this, our team is 52 persons strong.

    Now, back to me becoming the “mono loco”….while attending a charity conference earlier this year, I was sitting in a workshop trying to think of something that I could do personally to help raise more funds for the charity that I am passionately involved with.  And I came up with this crazy idea.  PI has a mascot – a stuffed monkey named Phil.  Well, I decided to have a full monkey costume made so that “Phil” could join the Dream Team at Road2Hope this year.  Now the “loco” part?  Phil (me) will be running the FULL marathon at the event.
    A full marathon, in case you don’t know,  is 42.2 kilometres.  Wearing fitness appropriate clothing it would likely take me 4 hours and 15 minutes to complete.  Wearing a monkey costume? I’m not sure.
    My fundraising goal for this “loco” idea is $10,000.  (If I’m going to run 42.2 km as a monkey, I’d like to make it worthwhile.) If you would like to help me reach this goal by making a donation, you can visit www.iam1ru.com and find Phil on the list of race participants.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnVUhS0uBfU

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    If you, or someone you know, is Running for a Reason, please send your story to webeditor@irun.ca and we might feature it right here on this blog!

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