Giving and Getting

Obviously, the vast majority of my logged miles when I run are "selfish," in that they are for my health, wellness and fitness. I arrange things with friends (and even turned down a hike today with a cute new guy...he can wait) around my running. I don't feel guilty about this; running is important to me for a lot of reasons. I'll even argue 'til I'm purple that it actually keeps me mentally healthy.

But yesterday, I found out about a free app for iPhone called Charity Miles. It's simple: choose a charity from their list, choose your activity (running, walking, biking), and then, for every mile you go, a donor company will donate money. It's ten cents per mile of biking, 25 cents per mile of running.

As I set off this morning, I set the app to "go" mode (I chose Girl Up for the charity) and let it go as I walked my warm-up, ran 8.28 miles, and then walked 1.67 miles home after. In all of this, I got 10.25 miles total, and, according to the app, that is 10.25 weeks of school--I'm sure for one girl. There are various companies that give the money raised by people using the app. It seems like an all-around cool deal, and I certainly hope there's no catch to it.

As for Hiking Dude, we're looking at next weekend as a possibility. It was too hot to hike today, anyway. I had to leave at 6:45 to run before it started baking out there.