My dad has been a runner for as long as I can remember. I can't picture him without envisioning him training for some race. Even growing up, every life lesson somehow translated into "life is a marathon". Most of the time, I would, admittedly, block out the "marathon" portion of the lesson. I didn't get how it related to me. I didn't understand what made my dad wake up at the crack of dawn to run before a long work day, and I didn't understand why anyone would want to run for that many hours in a row. More than anything, I truly did not understand how or why it made him that happy. 

Jumping forward a couple of years, I was fresh out of college and into the routine of commuting to and from NYC for work. Most days, I would wake up early, get on the bus, go to work, commute home and go straight to sleep. The last thing on my mind was working out. Eventually when I moved to the city, and had some more time on my hands I was itching for a challenge. I signed up for a couple of races in the city, and ironically enough ended up qualifying for the New York City Marathon. Throughout my training I would have daily phone chats with my dad about the best way to train, motivational conversations to keep me going, and asking if it was all going to be worth it. On November 4, 2018 we celebrated my dad's birthday by running the marathon together. It was by far the most gratifying experience of my life. I finally understood what pushed my dad to train so hard. I caught the bug. 

Now my dad and I have a new challenge that we're taking on together: winning the Abbott Medal. For those of you that aren't familiar, The Abbott Medal is awarded to athletes that have run all 6 World Marathon Majors including: Chicago, New York, Boston, Tokyo, Berlin, and you guessed it, London!  

We are so excited to have the opportunity to run this marathon together, as well as raise money for a phenomenal cause. We are targeting to raise $2,000 USD each for Save the Rhino International. We are excited to be able to combine our passion for running with our love for animals. We hope you can help us in any way on our journey!

About Save the Rhino International:

Rhino poaching has reached crisis point while rhino habitat is shrinking. Today, three of the five species of rhino are Critically Endangered, meaning they face an extremely high chance of extinction in the wild; two of these species have fewer than 80 animals surviving. At Save the Rhino, we believe that we can halt eventually reverse the twin threats of poaching and habitat loss, so that no species of rhino are at risk of extinction.