Anastasia Sowinski ran her first marathon when her mother was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2002. Sowinski, a Brookfield, Illinois resident joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. Sowinski raised five thousand dollars and on the first anniversary of her mother’s death, ran her second marathon.

Sowinski has also ran three other marathons since her Team in Training days. So she has five marathons completed out of her goal of fifty, one for each U.S.A. state. She has run marathons in Alaska, Chicago (Illinois), Miami (Florida), Cincinnati (Ohio and Bloomington (Indiana).

She is preparing to run the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, October 28th in Arlington, Virginia. On December 1st she will run the Memphis Marathon in Memphis, Tennessee. Sowinski’s goal is to run three to four marathons each year.

For the Marine Corps Marathon Sowinski is raising funds for A Running Start, a charity that helps African children obtain a U.S.A. university education and to use their athletic abilities.

Source: WBBM Newsradio 780

Local library volunteers at the Newport Public Library (PA) have created a bicycle event that remembers a very special volunteer, Ray Wertz. The H.Ray Wertz Memorial “Ride to Read” Bike Tour has been running for eight years. The event has grown from 31 riders in the first year to now approximately 150 in the past three years. Some cyclists come as far away as New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware to participate in the event. The event both starts and begins at Little Buffalo State Park right outside of Newport, PA.

The event has raised more than $45,000. The funds help pay basic library expenses and to pay library salaries. The event will be held on Saturday, September 29th.

Ray Wertz was quite involved with the library, and many other community concerns in Newport, PA. He was on the building committee for the Newport Public Library when they constructed and planned the new building. He also volunteered for the library — doing just about anything that was needed, from mowing the grass, fixing things that needed to repaired and picking up the mail. Wertz died in 1998 and the event was created the following year in his honor.

The library hopes to raise approximately ten thousand dollars with this year’s event.
Source: The Sentinel, Newport Public Library

The Third Annual Eric Sears ‘Life is an Adventure’ 5k Run/Walk was held on Saturday, August 18th in Carlsbad, California. The run/walk will benefit scholarships for Carlsbad High School seniors that demonstrate leadership qualities, have a goal in life and a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average. The Eric Sears Foundation has funded approximately $20,000 in scholarships for students since 2004. A $35 race fee for runners benefited the foundation’s work.

The event was held in Poinsettia Park in Carlsbad. The 300 participants warmed up to Jazzercise. After the run/walk they enjoyed BBQ fish tacos by the Cynthia Lane chefs and listened to the Village Idiots band.

The race remembers Eric Sears, a Carlsbad High School student. Sears died in July 2004 on a camping trip with a friend at the Joshua Tree National Park’s Jumbo Rocks campground. The friend told authorities that the two tried a tea made from jimson weed the evening before Sears vanished. Authorities speculated that the effects of the tea, which can cause hallucination and dehydration, may have encouraged Eric to walk into the desert, where his body was discovered later.

Sources: North County Times, Eric Sears Foundation

The University of the District of Columbia State Education Agency is sponsoring its 7th Annual Walk for Literacy. The event will be held on Saturday, September 22, at the Tech World Plaza on 9th and K Street, NW. Check in time is at 8:00 am, and the walk begins at 9:00 am.

There are early registration discounts and group rates. All proceeds support literacy programs in the District. For more information, visit www.literacydc.org.