Competition! Beautiful weather! Bad 80s music! It pretty much doesn’t get better than last Thursday’s run through Riverside Park. HUGE thanks to everyone who ran, walked, volunteered, donated, set up fundraising pages, took photos, cheered on participants, or otherwise contributed to what turned out to be a wildly successful event. All in all, Run for Kids broke budget expectations and netted about 16k for our partner schools.

Congratulations to Program Director Mike Quinzio’s younger brother, Pete, who crushed the competition by finishing the run in just 16 minutes. Pete was followed by CFK’s Finance Chair Terry McLean, Conor Manley, Mike, and Advisory Council all-star Katherine Burrows Gold.

Louise Forbes and Stacey Griffith mug for the camera at the starting line

If you followed the votes on Facebook, you might be interested to learn that our Mike made good on his pledge to sacrifice his own sanity for the sake of event marketing—by listening to Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live without You?” on repeat for the duration of his race. Fortunately, he’s fast and managed to finish midway through the fifth loop of the ballad. He’s currently seeking therapy for post-traumatic stress. Colin Smith, on the other hand, is seeking additional suggestions to further torment his office mate during our August event, Spin for Kids. Bad 80s music, television themes, and other long-neglected horrors are warmly welcomed.

Whether you crossed the line at the front of the pack or patiently waited for the overambitious athletes to get out of the way, we hope you’ll join us again sometime soon. Monday, May 17^th is the last Story Love! session, where we can promise you 2 solid hours of totally adorable, non-cardio intensive reading (and snacks). Give Mike a holler if you want to see what our students have been writing in their literacy workshops.

More gorgeous photos from Debby Hymowitz will be posted to Facebook in short order, so make sure you check out that spectacular shot of you dominating the racecourse. And drop us a line while you’re at it – we want to hear from you!

Rob Oliver barely edges Justin Jones at the finish line