Your Favorite Running Shirt May Come From a Charity Run

The Sophia Hope Run

Last summer I ran a race for charity. I walked up to the results board to check my time and to my surprise, I placed third in my age division! Nice! The best part was that a young woman saw me at the results board and told me how she had tried to keep up with me. She actually said I was an inspiration to her and that she had recently started running. She smiled and also commented that she liked that I ended the race with my hair and makeup in place. I had to laugh. I could see that she was a natural beauty. Unlike me, she did not require spackle (my term for makeup). We bumped into each other at a race or two after that but I can’t really remember how we became not just acquaintances but I now consider her a friend. It was quite some time before I learned her story. SHE is now an inspiration to me; positive and always smiling.

I found out that she began running as a way to keep her mind off her sadness. She and her wonderful husband Derek had lost their newborn baby girl a few months before I met her. The story is heartbreaking but what I’ve learned is that from heartbreak can come beautiful things.  In April, almost a year from when I met her, Alicia and her husband had a birthday party for their little girl Sophia Hope. They celebrated by organizing a run in their daughter’s honor called The Sophia Hope Run. This is how I found my current favorite running shirt. The couple owns Diamond School of Dance, a local dance studio. They had young dancers on stage, inflatable games, food, a kid run, a 2-mile run, and a 5-mile run. All proceeds were donated to Apple Pregnancy, a local agency helping those with difficult pregnancies. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful one-year birthday party for their little girl.

You never know who you will meet when you’re out for a run and even when someone thinks you’re their inspiration you find out that they are really yours.

Happy Birthday, Sophia Hope!