Freddie For A Day Virtual Race
I lost my son Connor last September. He was 22 years old, and he was gay. He came out at age 13. He was always a kind, loving, beautiful, caring person, but living here in small town Oklahoma, people were not always kind. He used drugs to escape the bullying, the censure, the heartache of dealing with intolerance, and in the end they killed him. In his short life, he lost several friends to suicide. One of them was Zack Harrington. Last month, a film documenting Zack’s family’s life since then was released. It tells of how they want to raise awareness of AIDS and make our community a more inclusive environment for everyone. The film left me wanting to do something where I too could in some small way make a difference.
I've been a Queen fan since my early teens. Earlier this summer, I was looking at the Freddie For A Day website. Ever since its inception, I've wanted to participate in this fun event. I saw that one of the suggestions for ways to celebrate FFAD was to organize a race, or to participate in a race dressed as Freddie. I thought that while a local race might not be a big attraction, a virtual race might be the perfect opportunity for me to get involved. For a couple of years, I have been participating in virtual races through a company called Full Medal Runs. A virtual race has many advantages over a traditional race in that the participant can choose when and where to run, within the parameters of the race rules. I contacted the owner of Full Medal Runs and told her my story. She also has a son who is gay, and had been wanting to do an AIDS race. All of her races benefit a cause, and she agreed that this was a perfect idea for a virtual race.
The fee to participate is only $27, and each participant will receive a beautiful FFAD medal. There are distances from one mile to a half marathon. Participants don't even have to complete the miles all at one time, so long as they complete their distance by the end of September. Full Medal Runs will ship to anywhere in the world, which means that people can channel their inner Freddie and run whenever & wherever their heart desires. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
It is my hope that FFAD will get behind this fun event, and share the race information via their website and facebook page.
For more information and to sign up, visit www.fullmedalruns.com.
