St. Jude Memphis Marathon goes Virtual for 2020

The St. Jude Memphis marathon has been around since 2002 and for the first time ever, it will be a virtual experience thanks to the Pandemic!  

I was keeping my fingers crossed that something would work out for the actual race to happen, but knew deep down it was not going to and we got the official word last week.  It hit me like a ton of bricks!  The race was my last scheduled race for 2020 in which I had pre-registered.  So basically my last hope of running another race went up in smoke.  I haven't ran a race since 3/7/20!  Seems like forever!  I am use to traveling usually once a month to a race and many times I pick races that are like vacation destinations so I can kill 2 birds with one stone as they say.  But not since COVID-19 hit!  I haven't stayed in a hotel or traveled since February!! I think I'm having some serious withdrawals!  😛  

I am very thankful they are doing a virtual experience.  The kids at St. Jude do not get to take a break from cancer just because we have to take a break from our races!  They are still fighting every day and need our help.  Therefore, I will continue with  my fundraising and run my 26.2 virtually.  I am just shy of a little over $600 to make my $3,000 goal I committed to this year.  Please consider making a donation and helping these sweet kids.  Remember 100% of what you donate goes directly to help these families!  I could tell you story after story of the people I have meet that these donations helped over the last 7 years of me running this race.  💖 Here is my personal link:

Deleica's Hero Page

Info from St. Jude marathon website.. you too can register and do a race distance virtually:

July 28, 2020: After months of uncertainty, today we bring you two announcements. First, we've made the decision to transform this year's St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend into a virtual experience. Second, we're excited to announce that general registration is now open.  Here is link to register:  Register for St. Jude Memphis

As the pandemic continues to disrupt daily life, we're deeply saddened that we're not able to welcome our participants to Memphis this December. While nothing can truly replace an in-person event, we thought long and hard about what makes the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend memorable: the excitement of the downtown start line, the unpredictability of Memphis weather in December and, above all, our courses that run through the St. Jude campus. We're viewing this as an opportunity: if we can't be together, how can we bring Memphis and St. Jude to you?

We'll be with you every step of the way. From the time you sign up until race week, we're:

• bringing you monthly Memphis and St. Jude themes to help you with your training and to inspire you to help us reach our fundraising goal for St. Jude.
• offering you, for the first time ever, the chance to run more than one distance (yes, you'll get a special medal!). 
• giving you the opportunity to connect with our St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend community through our Facebook event. 

To our St. Jude Heroes who signed up prior to July 1, we've automatically transitioned your registration to our virtual experience, where you'll still receive exclusive benefits.  Please check your email for more information and for the option to make changes to your registration, should that be your preference.

Safety remains our top priority — both for our participants and supporters, who make this race what it is, and for our St. Jude patients, who are our inspiration, and who are immuno-compromised. 

2020 has not been the year for live races!  But I will not let that stop me.  Yes, some days it is so hard to get out there and run knowing you don't have a race coming up, but I remind myself that I need to use this time to get strong and when 2021 comes around I can roll out swinging. 😁  I hope you too are finding ways to stay strong and positive during this uncertain time we are going through in our world.  I place my trust in Jesus.  No matter how dark it gets here on earth, he is always in charge and one day I will celebrate with him. 💓  Philippians 4:19 "My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." 

Happy Running!

D