‘Run for Your Life’

My sister and I started running together when we were 14 and 16 years-old. The first day of cross-country practice we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into when we barely made it the two miles around the lake. We started running to reach the finish line; To be strong; For the high; For our team; For one another; For ourselves. But, on October 29th,  2016, we didn’t run for any of those things. On October 29th, 2016, we ran for Daniel.

For the first time since December I felt comfort.  I felt comfort because, for the first time, I was surrounded by 869 other people who can, unfortunately, say “me too”.

My sister said it best: “Today was by far the hardest race we’ve ever ran. Not because of the difficulty of the race itself, but for what it meant. It broke my heart to see all of the people running today to honor someone they lost to suicide. As I stood at the starting line with tears streaming down my face, I felt the comfort of a hug from a complete stranger and I realized this is truly something we’re all fighting together. We can’t bring back those we’ve lost, but we can carry them in our hearts forever and work to prevent losing any more beautiful people too soon. For our “Superman Dan”.”

Let’s run for those who we lost, but who will never be forgotten; Let’s run for suicide awareness and prevention; Let’s “Run for Our Lives”.

If you need support right now, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. You can reach the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741-741.