Dec. 20, 2018 – Washington Co., WI – Today I completed 24 years, 354 days of not missing a day of running. That’s 9,119 days in a row and run No. 15 of the 25 Runs of Gratitude.
Today I am going to do a little math and relate it to the streak. I go through two pairs of running shoes per year. I know when they need to be replaced because my knees start hurting. I have gone through 50 pairs of shoes through 25 years. The average cost per pair is $85, so that means I have spent $4,250 on shoes. The average run is 2.5 miles, multiply that by 9,119 straight days and I have run 22,797 miles over 25 years. If I would be running around the world I would almost be back home. The circumference of the world is 24,859 miles. If over 25 years I have averaged 8-minute miles, then I would have spent over 126 days running the past 25 years. Finally, I have also beat the odds as far as a New Year’s resolution, according to Bupa/ComRes, 86% of people that make resolutions don’t make it past the first year.
Today I ran for The Threshold, Inc. The run was sponsored by The O’Meara Nowack Averill Group of Robert W. Baird & Co. Mike Hoffman with The Threshold, Inc. works in the birth to 3 program and provided me with the following tidbits;
· 85% of core brain development occurs in the first 3 years of life. It is crucial that children experiencing developmental delays early on are identified and supported during this most crucial period of brain development.
· Our program is celebrating our 11th year in a row of earning the State Department of Human Services’ highest distinction for quality of service and performance indicators.
· 65-70% of families we serve find out about our program or are referred to our program by their Physician
· 70% of the children we serve are experiencing difficulties with speech/communication
· On any given day there are 141 families enrolled in our program
· When a child approaches age 3 we help coordinate the child’s transition out of our program by connecting them with other area programs that serve children 3 and older, usually their local school district.
· Our funding comes from Federal, State and County tax dollars and a generous donation from United Way. Our program would drastically decrease the amount of services, and likely quality, if we were ever to lose United Way’s current level of support.
· On that note, there can be no waiting list. Our program must serve any and all identified children in our County despite a static funding level each year.
Billy Hursd also works in the birth to 3 program and joined us on the run. Apparently Billy’s wife did not believe he could run one mile. Billy pounded out the entire 2.3 mile run.
Justin Pogodzinski is a Financial Advisor with the The O’Meara Nowack Averill Group and also joined us on the run. Justin has been with Baird for five years and has spent the last two years working in West Bend. He is also an assistant baseball coach for Pius XI High School and is on the COLUMNS scholarship Board.
I want to thank my good friend Mike Nowack for showing up with his team to sponsor the run and we are all so grateful for all of the incredible services The Threshold, Inc. provides.
Friday, Dec. 21 we run for the Full Shelf Food Pantry at noon, see you then!