Good morning and Happy Halloween! My morning got off to a scary start with a pre-5 a.m. wake up call to train a new client at 5:30. There is something about waking up in the 4 a.m. hour that feels so much earlier than after 5. The good news, I slept like a champ last night with no night sweats and no middle of the night wake ups! Also, my new client is awesome and I know already that I will enjoy working with him! I love new client intake sessions. I always discuss health history, current fitness and health status and goals with them and then put them through a movement screen and a bodyweight workout. It is so rewarding to see some one on day one and then see their progress when we get one month, three months, six months in. The difference is amazing and it’s such an important benchmark for my clients to see how far they’ve come.

I would like to do a series sharing more on what it’s like to be a personal trainer…getting certified, finding a job, getting started, building a client base, developing a training style, etc. It’s something I get asked about a lot. Let me know if you have any specific topic requests.

So this post isn’t meant to be about me but I have a great story to share with you about another woman who is embarking on quite a challenge this summer.

Meet Sydney. She’s a junior at the University of Maryland and in the summer of 2014 she is running ACROSS THE COUNTRY (seriously!) with the 4K for Cancer program. Sydney reached out to me after my Women Supporting Women post and asked if I would be willing to help her get the word out about what she’s doing. I’ll let her tell you all about it!

My name is Sydney and I’m a college student with a passion for running and helping others! Lucky for me, I get to combine both of my passions this summer (2014) as I run across the country!!! Yep, across the whole thing—San Francisco to Baltimore. I’m running to support our nation’s cancer community with a program called 4K for Cancer!

Never heard of 4K for Cancer? This program—as part of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults—sends 4 teams of bikers and 1 team of runners on cross country treks in order to raise funds and awareness for the fight against cancer. On our trips we will be visiting with host communities and sharing stories about what connects us to cancer; visiting with cancer patients in different hospitals; delivering chemo care bags; giving out scholarships to cancer survivors; spreading hope and encouraging increased support for cancer fighters and survivors. It’s a pretty awesome mission, if you ask me.

I’m one of thirty college aged runners who has been picked out of everyone in the entire country to run for the 4K for Cancer Running Team! I’m so beyond thrilled! We will be running anywhere between 8 and 16 miles a day in a relay-esque way. I’m really excited to see Utah and Colorado.

I know we’ll have longgg days and it’s definitely going to be physically grueling, but I think of every mile I run as my way of fighting for those who are struggling to keep fighting during treatment or recovery. I’m thankful to have my health and I want to use it to help empower those who are dealing with cancer.

So how does running a TON of miles help support cancer? In a few ways. As I mentioned above, we will be connecting with all different communities in all different states in order to help foster hope for those fighting. We will be visiting with current cancer patients and delivering special chemo care bags. We want to encourage people to support everyone affected by cancer. Also, all of the 4K athletes set personal fundraising goals. This money goes straight to the 4K for Cancer program and helps fund scholarships for those closely affected by cancer.

Here is a link to my fundraising page. If you feel personally connected to our mission and would like to support us on our run we would love it! If you have any questions definitely feel free to reach out!

Join me in wishing Sydney good luck with her challenge! What a way to spend a college summer, huh!?

Would y’all ever like to do one of these running across the country or from state to state challenges for charity? Or have you already?