Run 4 The Children in Katy, TX

Today's post is sponsored by Run 4 The Children, a four mile race benefiting orphaned children and the families who want to adopt them.  If you're a regular reader here you know I share God's heart for the fatherless. You also know I've been training since January 1st with the Couch to 5K program with the end goal of a four mile run this weekend. This run is organized by and benefits 1:17, a ministry to bring awareness to the global orphan crisis and provide much needed funds to families wanting to adopt.

Run 4 The Children was the brainchild of my friend Dr. Scott Balin. If you live in Katy you may have recently seen the big feature article in Katy Magazine about the running group, Katy Fit, which Scott is the organizer for. So he knows a lot about benefit runs and knows a ton of local runners. As of today we have well over 300 people registered for the run and we are expecting a lot of same day registrations this Saturday morning. We also have an amazing number of incredible business and community sponsors. Some have provided food for after the race and and some have provided coupons and other swag in the very nice bags each runner will get.

The members of 1:17 spent Monday night stuffing 500 of these awesome swag bags. We have a fantastic group of families who have adopted, families in the process of adopting, some preparing to be foster homes and some that just have a heart for orphans and are supportive of all efforts to care for the "least of these." On Saturday we will also have many other volunteers from the Fellowship at Cinco Ranch, the location of the run, on hand to help out. Three other churches have also volunteered to set up water stations along the race route; Living Word Lutheran, Grace Fellowship Methodist, and Grand Lakes Presbyterian. We have totally cool medals for the winners of each age/gender group.

Following the race we are gonna have a fabulous party with a super fun kids zone and a great concert by national recording artists the Wayne Kerr Band. The Wellness Center will have a booth with free massages and the new salon next door to the Wellness Center will be doing free polish changes! I'm looking forward to that. There will also be several vendors there with information about adoption in case you want to know more about our cause.

So online registration for Run 4 the Children is now closed, BUT you can still show up at 7:15am on race day and register there.  You don't have to run the 4 miles either, you can walk AND there will be a well marked short cut that is only 2.6 miles.