Run Forest Run!

Dear friends,

On the lovely day of 14th September - a week ago, Sunday morning - took place the Poland Business Run. Now if you do not live in Poland, you may not be familiar what this is. Working in a corporation in Poland would teach you fast what this run is all about ;) and having worked in 2 great corporation this far, I can safely say that I am aware of what it means. Poland Business Run is a charity business relay race with its third edition, that will start off at the same time in all the participating cities across Poland. It is a nationwide initiative with races that took place in: Krakow (of course), Poznan, Katowice, Lodz and Warsaw :)

The run combines the idea of helping others with the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and the fun. The goal of the initiative is to help the beneficiaries of Jasiek Melas Beyond Horizons Foundation.

The foundation supports amputees whose lives have changed dractically due to an accident or a disease. They are often confined to wheelchairs, crutches or to poor quality prostheses. They have to face exclusion, financial difficulties. And they are often unable to accept the situation where they find themselves. Yet they never stop dreaming about a normal life within the society, and not on its outskirts. They dream or about continuing their education or returning to work. They dream about going out without fear, easily getting on a tram, going shopping, climbing up stairs, riding a bike, playing the ball, dancing, running... 

The mission of Poland Business Run is to make these dreams come true. We show our beneficiaries that the amputation is not the end of the world. Giving them new prostheses, we give them hope. 

As chairman of Jasiek Mela’s Beyond Horizons Foundation, Jan Mela says: "Poland Business Run lasts one day. This one day may change the lives of our beneficiaries. Your pair of legs is enough to participate in the run. Your pair of legs is enough to help someone."

 It all started a few years ago when Radisson Blu Hotel Krakow and UBS Service Center Krakow decided to join efforts to organise a run in Krakow. Other firms and partners followed soon and more cities joined shortly after. 

The first edition took place in Krakow in 2012. 1200 people took part. They managed to help one person then, a young woman, Justyna Topa. The fact that in 2013 there were already three races, Kraków Business Run, Poznań Business Run and Katowice Business Run, proves how fast an inspiring idea can spread. 

Thanks to the second edition of the run, they sponsored 10 prostheses and helped 8 people. It is lovely to see people run and with a reason - to help people in need :) 

 “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesnt matter whether youre the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, youd better be running.”
Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

“The miracle isnt that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”
John Bingham, No Need for Speed: A Beginners Guide to the Joy of Running 

Look at me! Im flying! :)

 “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.”
Dean Karnazes

“All I do is keep on running in my own cozy, homemade void, my own nostalgic silence. And this is a pretty wonderful thing. No matter what anybody else says.”
Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running 

“Im often asked what I think about as I run. Usually the people who ask this have never run long distances themselves. I always ponder the question. What exactly do I think about when Im running? I dont have a clue.”
Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running 

 “I run because if I didn’t, I’d be sluggish and glum and spend too much time on the couch. I run to breathe the fresh air. I run to explore. I run to escape the ordinary. I run…to savor the trip along the way. Life becomes a little more vibrant, a little more intense. I like that.”
Dean Karnazes, Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“The reason we race isnt so much to beat each other,... but to be with each other.”
Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen 

“Some seek the comfort of their therapists office, other head to the corner pub and dive into a pint, but I chose running as my therapy.”
Dean Karnazes, Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner 

 “I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go.”
Dean Karnazes, Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“I want to run. To do what I always do, have always done, for the last five years of my life. Escape, flee into the shadows. But this time, I stand my ground. Im tired of running.”

Marie Lu, Prodigy

Is he/she coming or not? When is my turn?

Waiting for their turn & checking the time board

 “If you dont have answers to your problems after a four-hour run, you aint getting them.”
Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen 

Leave me alone... Im tired...

 “The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky always. The clouds are mere guests in the sky that pass away and vanish, leaving behind the sky.”
Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

 “People think Im crazy to put myself through such torture, though I would argue otherwise. Somewhere along the line we seem to have confused comfort with happiness. Dostoyevsky had it right: Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness. Never are my senses more engaged than when the pain sets in. There is a magic in misery. Just ask any runner.”
Dean Karnazes, Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Running! If theres any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I cant think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms.”
Joyce Carol Oates

 “Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived.”

Dean Karnazes

I had a lovely Sunday and if I would love running for sure I would have joined in, and not be just a photographer. The issue is that I am not much of a runner and I am much too ashamed to exercise with such a large audience. I prefer my early morning pilates classes, I enjoy the sauna, I love the aqua gym and even though the most muscle shaped part of my body are the legs, I would still not do it. But I do admire people who run and I love watching them, cheering up and shouting out for my friends when they have a Run.

***

I was happy to be there and see all the over 500 teams running for a noble cause. This is what is all about: giving and sharing from ones heart to another :) Have you ever joined a business run? Any type of run? Or maybe you volunteered like me :) When everything else fails, you can always give a helping hand by volunteering with something you can do: my case - taking photos :) Tell me yours story :)

Yours truly,

The LadyBug Who Loves To Volunteer