What Makes Me Smile – One of These Days

4th of July – Virtual Race

July 4, 2019July 4, 2019 Laura Lange

Happy 4th of July. This is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. Sweet berry pies, kids waving the flag during parades, hot dog competitions (Congrats Joey Chestnut on win #12), pool parties and bright, crackling fireworks. But the most special part of 4th of July is honoring the military that allows Americans to live in freedom and celebrate holidays like this with so much patriotism. I am extremely proud to be an American!!!

There was no better way to show my love for this country than with a 10k virtual race. As I have said in other posts, the Virtual Run Events powered by Moon Joggers allows runner enthusiasts to do self-motivated races and earn medals, and 15% of all registrations goes towards a worthy charity.

The 4th of July medal I received was the most beautiful I have seen. My alarm beeped extremely early this morning but I jumped right out of bed to get dressed and head out for my run. I kind of got sluggish mid-run (stayed up way too late watching Stranger Things) but I pushed harder and faster when I thought about what our veterans have sacrificed for America’s freedom.

The charity that this medal helped support was the Homes For Our Troops, an organization that builds homes for severely injured veterans. What an amazing cause and a charity that is doing God’s work.

Running, What Makes Me Smile

Running for Donuts

June 2, 2019 Laura Lange

June 1 National Donut Day!! Woo Hoo!!

I knew where I would want to celebrate one of the most yummiest holidays around (move over Thanksgiving). One of my favorite donut shops, Sweet Dozen, located in Sacramento, offers some of the most colorful, fluffy, and creamy donuts. They have bright purple donuts, donuts with crunchy cereal on them, donuts with chocolate chips sprinkled all over, donuts with oozing jam. MMMMmmmm….

Knowing I would consume probably a dozen on my own, I signed up for a virtual race through Moon Joggers to help keep the extra calories at bay. I signed up for the Dash4Donuts race, and you could pick between running a 5k or a 10k. I chose the 10k, knowing I would need the extra miles. The best part is 15% of every entry was donated to Action for Healthy Kids, an organization to make families more aware about healthy choices in schools and at home.

As a runner who loves the bling, I love that I can go to Moon Joggers and find some crazy themed runs with coordinating medals. They have holiday races like 4th of July and Halloween. Holidays for National (Food) Days like the National Pineapple Day that takes place this June 27. Races for flamingos, aliens, pets, Jesus!! Each race benefits a different charity, too. Like Soles 4 Souls, whose mission is to creat sustainable jobs around the world. And organizations like Active Heroes who provide support to military heroes and their families.

Moon Joggers will send you a beautiful medal and race bib to commemorate your run. I was really impressed with the quality of the medal. Now that I know I can earn medals and help out a good cause, I will be doing more virtual races. Stay tuned for more amazing medals and see which charity we will be working to help next.

Photo of the Day, What Makes Me Smile

Giving Back

July 6, 2018 Laura Lange

My daughter continues to amaze me. She works hard, loves God and has a giving heart. And I’m so grateful we have the opportunity to give back to so many other amazing kids and to let them know there are others that love them too.

Today we went to Shriners Children’s Hospital in Sacramento to deliver Girl Scout cookies that the little miss worked hard to donate. The person there to receive the cookies was so lovely. She told us how excited kids are to get the cookies every year and how the little miss should be so proud of herself.

Can’t deny the smile on her face!

We made another stop today. We delivered 18 birthday bags to the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento. Our birthday bags included cake mix, icing, balloons, stickers, crayons, toys. etc.

The receiving home can house up to 80 children, and provides many programs and activities for the children during their stay. We hope these birthday bags will bring joy to each child, and we look forward to more volunteer opportunities here.