My alarm goes off

Author

Ian Campbell
April 24, 2025

My alarm goes off. It’s 4:52am. I curse myself. How soon is the weekend? Oh yes, we have a bunch of races this weekend. My alarm will be even earlier on Saturday and Sunday. Fantastic.

What have I gotten myself into? My old job didn’t require me to wake up until 8am on weekdays. And the weekends were well, weekends. That was 3 years ago. Woah, time moves fast. As the thoughts race through my mind, I shake my head, rub my eyes and get dressed.

Then I go for a run.

That was the beginning of today for me.

Most days I get up and run the same path along the Schuylkill River Trail. It is not very long - probably a few miles. Usually I don’t see many people, maybe 1 or 2. It is peaceful.

Many people ask me why I run. The truth is there are many reasons why I do it. I run to stay fit, to be outside and to make myself uncomfortable.

But the main reason is that running makes me feel better. It is that simple. Running makes me feel better mentally, physically and emotionally.

If running at the beginning of the day can make me a better person during the rest of the day, it just makes sense. We only have so many days until we die, so feeling good on those days would be nice.

I feel similarly about our work with Run The Day. We only have so many days to work in our careers. So why not spend our time working to solve meaningful challenges? I believe that supporting races is exactly that.

  • Races won’t cure cancer, but they can raise a ton of money to pay smart people to work hard to find a cure.

  • Races won’t bridge the increasing gap in values, but they can bring people together regardless of skin color, religion and political party.

  • Races won’t magically make everyone healthy, but they can motivate people to move, which would reduce future health complications from obesity.

  • Races won’t bring our loved ones back from dead, but they can help us to honor their legacy.

Races won’t solve all of our problems. But they can make the future a bit better. And that is a worthwhile thing to work for.

So when my alarm goes off, I get up and go for a run.

-Ian

A rainy race with horses

Ian Campbell

Ian Campbell

Uniting communities.