Running for Their Lives – Grit Your Grief 5k Run/Walk
by Camille Nitschky, The Grief Lady
Do you remember running as a child? Just for the sake of running? Feeling the wind against your face or playing tag and chasing after someone with the fabric of their shirt just a hint away from your fingertips. Such ecstasy to just run for the fun of it. For years I was a runner. Not the healthy 5K kind of runner, but the run from any kind of uncomfortable feeling or situation, runner. Avoidance was a coping skill I learned growing up, but it was just an illusion. “You cannot run, and you cannot hide” must have originated with me realizing it never really was a long-term fix. I always caught up to myself and had to face the music to whatever I was running from. Fast forward to hitting a bottom with addiction in my twenties and picking up a whole new set of positive tools to deal with my emotions and circumstances that were creating chaos in my life. I only had to change one thing, everything. So, I did. I learned holding things in was the worst thing I could do with my feelings. I learned through the death of my mom that unexpressed grief could create a wall of depression that was impossible to climb over, and I had to acknowledge it, and feel it to see the door to walk through it. There was no emotional running from that one. It was grief I innately knew I couldn’t escape. My experience from years of doing therapeutic massage taught me that the painful feelings you don’t work through, trying to stuff them down, will eventually come out in your body either emotionally or physically and it’s not going to be pretty. I learned that what I put into my body effected my mind and that movement brings relief in most circumstances. I even tried physical running for a stint, and I did “get” what the big deal was about. That focus on your breath, the concentration of pacing yourself and the determination to just keep going a little bit longer became a new set of tools for me. I’d like to say I kept it up, I didn’t. I do love walking and dancing and movement of any kind that helps me get unstuck and I realize I have a choice today. I can linger in the past, I can project into the future, but my best option is being in this moment right now with each step whether it’s walking, running, or dancing to my hearts content.
Grit Your Grief 5k Run/Walk
LIVE RACE: MAY 14TH, 2022 at Saginaw’s Ojibway Island; VIRTUAL RACE: MAY 7TH-21ST, 2022
As a result of dealing with the many aspects of coping with this pandemic and running a nonprofit that deals with grief, a direct result of these past few years, we’ve learned to adapt and shift our ways of doing things. We created the Grit Your Grief 5K Run/Walk totally changing our fundraising platform. It was kind of crazy but made so much sense. Get people outside, in nature, running or walking and connecting with each other to make a difference in a grieving child’s life. It was a win-win for everyone. Plus, we got to honor our people that have died. To continue to tell their story. We placed photos of them along the race route and raised money to support our programs. We got calls throughout the year for support from people that had learned about us through the race which to me is the most important aspect of all of this. Helping people learn about us.
Who knew running could make such a difference? It might just seem like another 5K, but it can make a profound impact on a child who is grieving. So put your shoes on, step outside, breath the fresh air and run or walk for a great cause.
Register for Grit Your Grief 5K Run/ Walk
LIVE RACE: MAY 14TH, 2022 at Saginaw’s Ojibway Island; VIRTUAL RACE: MAY 7TH-21ST, 2022
Remember, we’re running for their lives. Not only for our children but for their people that have died. Click the QR code or Grit Your Grief 5K Run/Walk link to sign up for the race. You can sit on the couch and create your own fundraiser by signing up on this link and sharing it with your friends, creating a team in memory of someone you love that they can donate toward or just pick the CGC team when you sign in. All donations go directly to our program. Thanks for your support, we appreciate you!
Written by Camille Gerace Nitschky, the Executive Director at the Children’s Grief Center of the Great Lakes Bay Region. You can follow the Children’s Grief Center of the Great Lakes Bay Region on Facebook and Instagram.
Also written by Camille: Grief Doesn’t Take a Holiday, Be Your Own Valentine, and Grief Is A Gift