Running to prevent lung disease: Part 2

With 63 days until the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air 5K, I participated in one of the Travis Manion Foundation’s 9/11 Heroes Run series of races, a 5K (see photo). Still moved by each anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks–and knowing that emergency responders are at an increased risk of asthma and other serious respiratory illnesses–I felt this was the perfect race to benchmark my first 37 days of training.

At the gun I started
off too fast, unintentionally keeping pace with all the other real “runners.” Slowing, and then walking at a decent clip, I was getting passed by grade-schoolers (who weren’t even alive on 9/11/2001–a bittersweet realization) and firefighters weighed down with full gear and air tanks. Running along with both was inspiring, and I finished the race with a respectable 14.58-minute mile.

I’m so thankful to my family, friends, and colleagues for their support and generous donations this far. Other AWEA staffers have asked to run with me, so I’ve formed “Team AWEA” — if you’d like to support us and the American Lung Association, please visit the team page. Your monetary donation will help provide lung disease management education to children, and generate the awareness needed to increase resources for advanced research projects. You can also improve air quality by supporting the wind energy industry by becoming a Wind Power Advocate through AWEA’s Power of Wind.

Thank you for supporting us, wind energy, and the American Lung Association.

Renee Flowers
Marketing Manager, AWEA