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Running For Food
You have come to the right place to learn about ....
What is new at Running for Food
The 2024 Harvest Marathon Relay for the Benefit of the Houston Food Bank was held at Rice University. Congratulations to the For Diamond's Sake - Dow and Friends team who got off to a fast lead and never looked back They are a first time winner and champion of the 2024 Harvest Marathon Relay.
GReat year for running for food
Did you know...
The Running For Food Team is working on securing entries for the 2025 Aramco Houston Half Marathon and Chevron Houston Marathon. Want to run? Let me know. You can email me at robert@runningforfood.com or clicking on the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page.
My story
My Running For Food journey started in 2010. I started running on July 1st of that year to get back into shape. By about August, I realized I needed a goal, so I tried to register for the Houston Marathon. At that time, entry into the Marathon was by lottery and it was too late for me to register for the 2011 race.
I was a little discouraged. A few days later, I went back to the web site and saw the Run for a Reason program and knew immediately that I wanted to run on the Houston Food Bank team. It was my first time as a fundraiser and I was happy to have raised $1,215 dollars, which is enough for about 3,600 meals..
The next year I approached my employer, BASF Corporation, about a Sidewalk Squad Sponsorship. They agreed. In 2012, BASF fielded its first team in the race. Over the years, the team grew from 3 in the first year to almost 150 registrants at its peak.
In 2017, I founded the Harvest Marathon Relay where teams compete to complete a 26.2 mile marathon in a relay format. That year on a high school track, we proved that this was a fun and competitive event which set the stage for a larger event at Rice University.
The number of event participants on the BASF team and Harvest Marathon Relay continued to grow, as did the number of donor. By November of 2018, cumulative individual donations hit the $100,000 mark (it was Matt's donation that pushed it over the threshold! That is the equivalent of 300,000 meals.
In 2019, I formed the Running For Food team with the vision of creating excitement around running and solving food insecurity. The team was able to compete in the 2020 Houston marathon and half marathon, and be part of the Run for a Reason fundraising programs benefiting the Houston Food Bank. For its efforts, the Running For Food team was awarded the Top Fundraising Team by the Houston Marathon as part of their charity program.
Then we ran into COVID-19. Races were being cancelled or held virtually. The Harvest Marathon Relay Race Committee was determined to have a competitive event, which we did with a real-time, multi-location, socially distanced competitive race. Despite not being together, teams were able to compete in real time, and of course raise money for the Houston Food Bank.
I finished the 2021 race season running the virtual Houston half marathon at the same time as the in-person Fort Bend Fit half. With support from generous donors, cumulative personal donations exceeded $156,000.
I ran and fundraised in 2022 and 2023, but had to take 2024 off from running due to an injury. After a successful 8th annual Harvest Marathon Relay for the benefit of the Houston Food Bank, I am getting ready to be a HERO at the 2025 Houston marathon.
Follow me on twitter @Running4Food
See you at the finish line!