During the month of August, I challenge you to run, walk, hike, swim, or bike as much as you can and log your mileage.  Get your friends, family, and coworkers to sponsor your activities (or sponsor yourself) by pledging to make a per-mile donation to the charity of your choice.

For example, I am training for a half marathon and riding my bike a few times a week and hope to log 100 miles in August.  I have a sponsor who pledged to donate 20 cents per mile.  At the end of the month, if I reach my goal, my sponsor would donate $20.  My dad is also logging mileage while he pre-trains to run a different half marathon with me next year.  He will hit about 30 miles next month and I will donate 1 dollar per mile to support and encourage his endeavor.

I suggest using the RunKeeper app to log your mileage.  It’s free and user friendly.  You can manually input any exercise or use the GPS to track it.  Add me as a friend – Abbie Collier.  You can also like the Facebook Page – Get Fit and Give Back Campaign to see how the month is going for others and share your personal story.  I’d love to hear about your journey!  you can also use this Get Fit and Give Back worksheet to log your sponsorship and track your progress.

My dad’s journey is very inspirational for me and I hope to encourage these moments for others with this campaign.  It’s all about taking care of yourself and others.  I was also inspired by my beautiful, loving, caring, and generous friend Amber Smith.  She had one of the hardest jobs I could ever imagine: social work.  She advocated for children and families who needed someone to stand up for them and help them through extremely tough circumstances.  When she passed away earlier this year at 32 years old, she left a big hole in the  hearts of hundreds.  She influenced, supported, encouraged, motivated, and greatly impacted an incalculable amount of people.  Heck, she did the same for me countless times.  She was the biggest Thirty Days of New supporter from the get go.  It is in her honor that I created this campaign, to raise money for the Amber Smith Memorial Fund which provides legal assistance to children in need.  I know it’s not a lot, but in some way I know I’ll still be supporting her with her never ending quest to improve peoples’ lives.  I encourage you all to find the most meaningful charity to you.