Jenny Crain - Make It Happen!

Quite a while ago, I wrote a post about a local runner named Jenny Crain. Jenny was an excellent runner. She had qualified for 4 different US Olympic Marathon Trials and represented the United States in the 2005 World Track and Field Championships in the Marathon. That year she ran a time of 2:39:02.

I had written before about how she would run locally and join the local races and was a very visible part of the Milwaukee Running Community. She is also a very friendly, down to earth runner, very approachable. There were many races in which I was able to see her, well, at least the back of her for a half mile or so until she was out of sight.

In August of 2007, Jenny was on a training run getting ready for the Olympic Trials for a chance to run in the 2008 Beijing Olympics when tragedy struck. She was hit by a car on the East Side of Milwaukee and severely injured, she was lucky to live. With an Olympic spirit in her heart that would win gold a thousand times over, she began the biggest training of her life, recovery. Over the last 4 years, she has worked her way up to being able to walk with the aid of a walker. Last month, she walked 1 mile at a local charity run on her behalf. She has a long way to go.

Many local runners have now supported Jenny the way she supported them over the years. The Make it Happen Fund was set up to help Jenny with her massive medical bills. As the director of the WELS Kids Marathon in Milwaukee, myself, along with my committee, have chosen the Make It Happen Fund as the 2011 charitable contribution. With this contribution, they have invited me to join “Team Jenny” for a special fund raising event in October.

The Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon will take place on Sunday, October 2nd and “Team Jenny” will be attempting to break the World Record for most runners tethered together running a marathon. The current World Record is 47 runners which was set in London (I think). We are attempting to have over 75 runners roped together for this event. The “Jennipede” will not be a fast team as there are runners of all levels joining the team but we are all there with the sole purpose of supporting Jenny! As a part of the team, I am also raising more funds to help Jenny.

If you feel inspired to make a personal donation to the Jenny Crain Make it Happen Fund, please follow this link.

If you would like to learn more about the Jenny Crain Story, here is a link to a wonderful story published in Runner’s World Magazine. Well worth the read.

I will let you all know more about the run and the world record attempt as we get closer to the race. We have a couple scheduled training runs where we will learn how to run tethered together and get some of the logistics figured out (like how does one use the restroom during the race?, What if I need to tie my shoe?) Once attached to the “Jennipede” rope, there is no unhitching until the race is over!

Thank you for your support and as always:

Keep on Running!!! . . . and Make It Happen