Ducks Feet

It was a groggy January morning at the office. The Ducks had just lost the National Championship game a few hours earlier and I was doing my best to make it through our morning staff meeting. After reporting on the status of a few projects I announced to the staff that I was going to run the New York City Half Marathon in an effort to raise the $2,000 needed to sponsor a heart surgery for a child overseas through the International Children's Heart Foundation. You see, after both of my daughter's were born with Congenital Heart Disease that required open heart surgery at less than three months I felt compelled to assist another family through this difficult situation. The announcement of my effort was met with great enthusiasm, enough to jolt me from my post National Championship loss haze. My boss jested, "I'm not supporting the effort unless you run the race with a pair of those socks the Ducks wore last night!" Referring of course, to the loud, controversial neon socks they wore special for the big game. I laughed, then the wheels started turning, that could be a hell of a good idea to promote this effort.



I dropped a line to my good buddy Brent Harrison, Associate Director of Recreation Programs at UO, to see what he thought. He loved the idea, and connected with Head Football Coach Chip Kelly's office. Supporting the effort, Coach Kelly agreed to send a pair of socks my way.



These socks are loud, "Volt Green" loud, and are complete with the "Win the Day" Duck Football mantra that I have adopted. So much so that I think its accounted for over $500 in donations. It added some excitement to an already exciting effort. Fundraising has exceeded expectations, with over 50 people providing support, to the point where the effort will now be able to fund surgeries for two children (http://www.active.com/donate/doyle_run_4_hearts). Words can not express how very thankful I am to all the family, friends, coworkers and even strangers who have contributed.

Interestingly enough I recently heard that former University of Oregon runner, Olympian, now professional Galen Rupp, decided to enter the field at the NYC Half next weekend. Probably heard about the socks. See you there Galen, I'll be the guy in Volt Green drafting off you (two miles back).