Gasparilla 2017

What a great Saturday! We had 40 runners on the Beat Nb run team at the Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa this weekend. It was moving to see the heart put forth by our runners, as we added a pinch of green to the tens of thousands of runners who took to Bayshore Blvd over the weekend.

My first Gasparilla run was 7 years ago. Ezra had just had a consultation for his April 1 surgery (his surgeon, Dr Mark Kayton, was the first person who ever donated to the nonprofit we would found just after Ezra died). I was hopeful and tired, and running pounded some of the stress into the pavement instead of my mind.

This weekend, we had a compassionate team running for Beat Nb. People who I’d never met before. People whose sons and daughters have fought cancer also. A guy named Anthony whose friends lost their son (named Kyle) to neuroblastoma. Our friends the Andersons, whose daughter Sofia walked too, and is cancer free on one of our trials. There’s a quote which goes something like “if you want to know if there’s still good in the world, follow a childhood cancer family around a while.” When I first heard it my reaction was “hey that’s weird” but I quickly realized it’s true. People pour themselves out around kids’ cancer, to make it better. And it’s not hyperbole. It’s not fluff. Our 40 runners raised over $25,000, telling the Beat Nb story and their own, making a tangible difference in the lives of kids fighting cancer RIGHT NOW.

Every person deserves a thank you for their participation (and have gotten them!). Deliver Media stepped it up hugely this year, bringing nearly half our runners. They even had one of their kids, Madison, running. She’s 12. Deliver matched every dollar their runners raised. Bavaro’s Pizza had runners out as well, with son Antonio (13 years old) rocking one of the best times of the 5k in our group. And our friends at Anise had runners on the team, too. THANK YOU to our corporate teams.

We’re glad to see each of you challenge yourselves and push forward not only yourself, but for kids with cancer. What you did this weekend makes a big impact, and I’m thankful.