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Talk about overcoming challenges: Our high-tech PR firm was determined to keep our sixth annual Run! Geek! Run! 8K going – even when the government shutdown forced us to postpone the original Oct. 5 date. (We’ve always held the event in West Potomac Park, a U.S. national park.) Fortunately, we made it happen this past Saturday, and we’re so appreciative of the nearly 400 runners who took to the streets.
Of course, it’s all for a great cause: The Equal Footing Foundation, which strives to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of children in the Northern Virginia region through education and development programs which shape their professional and technical skills, and encourage them to be leaders within their communities and beyond. The Foundation’s programs include its robotics tournaments, space camps and local Computer Clubhouses, which currently serve more than 1,500 young people in six locations.
We also saw some great running, as Washington D.C.’s Ryan Witters won the race for the second consecutive year with a time of 24:39. Maura Carroll from Washington, D.C. took the women’s side of the event with her time of 29:24. The race had strong representation from the upcoming generation of runners, with 13-year old Connor Foss from Alexandria, Va., finishing in 14th place overall with his time of 31:11 and Gillian Wong, age 11 from Alexandria, Va., with her time of 37:09. For the Corporate Team Challenge, the group from LMI (one of our sponsors) won with their average time of 32:01. The full results are available on the Run! Geek! Run! website.
We’re always humbled by the great show of the local business and running communities which come together to support The Equal Footing Foundation. We cannot express how much the race-management team here at W2 Communications appreciates our runners, volunteers and race sponsors – AH&T Insurance, Evans & Chambers Technology, Gibson Dunn, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ironistic.com, LMI, NVTC, Potomac Tech Wire, Transformation Systems Inc. and Young Design. Thank you for your continued support of the Run! Geek! Run! and our efforts to raise money and build awareness.
We’re in the process of wrapping up the financial end of the 2013 race and determining our donation to the Equal Footing Foundation. And, amazingly, we’re already in the planning stages for 2014 to ensure that it’s the best year yet! If you’d like to get involved – contact the race management team at rungeekrun@w2comm.com!
Watch our website, Twitter and Facebook page for updates on the 7th annual Run! Geek! Run! 8K! Hope to see you in 2014!
Christy Pittman is an account supervisor at W2 Communications.