Causes give women 1 Reason 2 Run

01/26/2012

Written by Andrew Jones

Years ago while sitting in their dorm room, Carly Gilleland and Jenny O’Neil listed reasons why they couldn’t do a marathon. But doing what most college students do, they made a bucket list with “run a marathon” on it.

They couldn’t make any more excuses.

They now have their own organization and website that raises money and awareness about the marathons they run every year.

“We give you reasons, while others give you excuses,” headlines their web page.

This is a far cry from years ago. Gilleland and O’Neil created 1REASON2RUN to generate awareness of the causes they support when they run and to challenge donors to donate $100 for every mile they run.

“In a creative and fun way, we shed light on these incredible organizations,” said Gilleland. “We also share this message with thousands of other runners that attend these marathons.”

It wasn’t always supposed to be like this though. They both thought that they would just do their first marathon and cross it off their list.

“The marathon was just one thing on our bucket list,” said Gilleland. ”After we ran our first marathon, we thought that it wasn’t so bad.”

Feeding off that energy, they decided to focus on a much bigger goal.

“We were motivated to run a marathon every year and sponsor a different charity every year along with it,” said Gilleland.

To really mix things up, though, they agreed that traveling around the country to different marathons while sponsoring different charities would be a great way to raise more awareness about their organization.

“Doing these runs would be a great excuse to travel,” Gilleland said.

But don’t ever think that these two view this as a real excuse. This is yet another reason.

“We would like to touch different communities,” said Gilleland.

Aside from touching the lives of those they help through charity, family friend Patrick Boyle feels the same energy that radiates through them.

“Carly and Jenny are both very motivated people,” said Boyle. “I think it’s great that they are running for a purpose.”

Although they both stay highly motivated and compassionate about their organization, Gilleland admits that they haven’t yet reached their goal.

“Our goal is to raise $2,620 and so far we have received only $700,” said Gilleland, “but every little bit really helps.”

Recently, they ran a marathon in Phoenix despite the fact that Gilleland was 28 weeks pregnant.

“We signed up for the marathon before we knew that Carly was pregnant,” said O’Neil, “but after her doctor told her it was OK, she decided that she would do it.”

O’Neil said that Gilleland got a few double takes because of her pregnancy, but that didn’t stop her. Pregnancy was the least of Gilleland’s worries because the cause that they supported was dear to them.

“My sister is autistic, and Jenny works with autistic children,” said Gilleland. “So sponsoring ACT Today was close to our hearts.”

Even though they sponsored ACT Today this year, that doesn’t mean they will restrict their compassion to only one charity.

“We would love to continue to raise money for ACT Today,” said Gilleland, “but there are other organizations out there that we would love to shed light on.”

With their mind and hearts set on raising money for a multitude of organizations, there is no doubt why 1REASON2RUN is their motto. They will never forget about all the excuses they made about their first marathon and how a small step turned into something bigger.

“We want to let everyone know that you don’t need to start huge,” said O’Neil. “All you have to do is get up and do something good for someone else.”