Done any good deeds lately?
Remember how my sister ran the Honolulu Marathon last year? It turns out that Katie Krawcyzk, a good friend of my cousin Jenny (who you’ll recognize as a frequent commenter here), is running it this year to raise money for AIDS services. She’s got another reason though: she’s doing it to get her Dad to quit smoking. I really liked this bit from her training page:
I have chosen to run a marathon to show him that overcoming most of life’s hardest battles (such as quitting smoking) is an issue of determination and mind over matter – you can achieve anything, no matter how much you may resist, or how much you struggle to get through it. Even if you never wanted to do such a feat for yourself in the first place, you do it for those you love because they want you to, and they need you to; you do it to make yourself healthy so you can make the most of the one life you’re given. Through this marathon, we raise money for those living with AIDS in order to prolong their lives as much as possible until we find a cure. For me, I am not only hoping to help save their lives, but I’m also hoping to save one more.
That’s awesome. Please consider donating a few bucks if you have any to spare. (And Dad, are you listening? Say the word and I’ll start training.)
aim
August 7, 2004 — 4:14 am
earth to ron howard – say something! let’s get kris to lace ’em up!
Tricia
August 7, 2004 — 6:16 am
I think what she is doing is awesome. One the one hand, I think that quitting smoking takes a lot more mind over matter and determination than running a marathon.* On the other, seeing how important it is to his family may be the motivation it takes for said dad to quit. My dad quit because of my sister and me when were were little girls.
(*Note: I never started smoking, so don’t personally know how hard it is to quit, but I have never been able to muster the mind over matter to lose those extra 20 pounds. I have been able to complete a marathon.)
amy
August 8, 2004 — 9:53 am
wow, you’re dad is Ron Howard? Cool…
😉
Cindy
August 8, 2004 — 2:24 pm
Hey, your dad doesn’t smoke at all at home or with me and swears he has stopped. Occasionally he has a cigar (yuck). I keep regular track of this issue and we definitely have a smoke free home.
Kris
August 8, 2004 — 2:55 pm
Really? That’s awesome! Sounds like he has really cut down. I get worried about his health a lot, so any improvement is a good thing.
rdh
August 13, 2004 — 11:29 am
Whadayamean worried about my health, I am as fit as they come, ok so maybe a tiny bit overweight but not much really, trust me ya dont have anything to worry about……now if I can just find the damn twinkies and a big glass of milk. 🙂