I mean, you aren't sure when you met them, (or maybe you didn't) but your circle of friends talk about him /her so you feel like you know them.
Or maybe you run with the same crowd,
and this person has been in the same places as you,
lots of times....
but you never actually were introduced.
Or maybe it's just that somewhere,
inside of you,
you feel like maybe you always knew them,
cause it is just that easy to be around them?
Yeah.... you are smiling now,
because you are thinking about that person.
If you don't know her....
This is Kim.
This photo is her finishing Marine Corps Marathon 2016.
She finished it the year after doctors told her 2015 would be her last marathon.
They were so sure, that Runner's World did a story about her.
(You can read about that by clicking here.)
I don't know when I met her.... officially,
but we are in the wear blue circle of friends together,
and I feel like I have always known her.
Kim is an amazing runner, she is a giving person, and she encourages everyone.
She is involved heavily in so many charities that I will certainly miss one if I try to list them all.
What you may not know,
is that Kim has been fighting for her life,
Fighting for ten years now.
In coming to the end of her fight,
she has made me promise her a few things.
And because of her selfless personality,
ZERO of those promises are about her.
They all involve helping others and keeping her dreams of helping others moving forward.
She has run many, many miles in blue, carrying the name of Cpl Victor Toledo Pulido.
Victor was killed in Iraq along with SPC Jonathan Winterbottom on May 23, 2007
by a roadside bomb.
Victor left behind a his childhood sweetheart and wife, that he met when he was 15.
A little boy, Isak, who only knows of his dad through photos and stories, but who is 13 now.
His parents and 3 siblings. (you can learn more about Victor by clicking here.)
This post is to keep my promise for Victor and Jon.
To have runners in blue log some miles for them.
Kim will very soon be running with the boys in heaven.....
if you would like to donate to wear blue: run to remember in Kim's memory.
You can do so by clicking here.
If you are running a race in blue, contact me:
Melda.Thornton@wearblueruntoremember.org
I will send you a special race bib to run in their honor.
Thank you for supporting the mission of wear blue.
Thank you for saying their names.
And thank you,
from Kim.
