Run For One Planet Blog

With credits to Sonja Ruebsaat, Tyler Gamsby & Rob Kelly from Modern Rocket Media, & Frank Lee, it is with HUGE excitement that we bring to you, the Run for One Planet Video!

(stay tuned for a longer version later…)

Ladies & Gentlemen: Steve Tait. (http://www.taithumancapital.com/)

This piece is a special contribution from Steve, one of our beloved Directors, fleshing out Run for One Planet’s motto “Small Steps Add Up”. You can also read it on his website focused on HR Consulting for Business Success: http://taithumancapital.blogspot.com/2009/05/little-things-make-difference.html.

Steve also happens to be my Dad Reading it reminds me of one of my favourite footprints we used to have up in Racy from a little kid at one of the schools we visited on Vancouver Island on what his action commitment was. It read “Turn Off the Car… I LOVE MY DAD!!!” Though he understates his “small involvement” in R41P, he’s a pretty smart guy in his young age, so hope you enjoy!

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“Some time ago a wise executive who I had the pleasure of working with stated that “Success is 10% Strategy and 90% Execution”. His point was that as challenging as defining a winning strategy can be, the day-to-day completion of tasks to support this strategy can be even more difficult.

True as this is at an organizational level, it’s every bit as true individually.

Establishing personal goals and aspirations takes a lot of effort. It takes deep soul-searching. It takes personal honesty about one’s capabilities. Ask any soon-to-be graduate how difficult it can be to get this personal strategy ‘right’. Ask anyone who is unemployed. They will tell, rather colorfully in some cases, just how challenging this is.

That said, doing ‘the right things’ and ‘things right’ day in and day out, is where the long term challenge lies. Have you ever tried to lose 10 pounds? Do you remember what it took to achieve? What new individual habits had to be formed – or old ones broken – to realize that? Were you able to ‘come good’ on your aspiration - and if so, did you do it on time?

Recently I’ve witnessed, and been a very small part of an inspirational example of how “small steps add up” (see www.runforoneplanet.com). The creation of the over-arching strategy for this organization took inspiration and courage by its Founders, of that there is no doubt. But the execution of Run for One Planet’s strategy took tremendous, discipline, belief and self-sacrifice over a prolonged period. In the process, tens of thousands of lives have been positively impacted and a Legacy Fund established for the future benefit of others. Recognition of its audacious achievement is now pouring in, but this wasn’t always the case. Nor was it assured at any time along the way. But doing the little things right day-in and day-out, step after grueling step, has successfully delivered on this organization’s strategy.

Ask the Founders of Run for One Planet whether the strategy or the execution were more challenging. Then try running a marathon a day for one year, and decide for yourself.”

http://www.taithumancapital.com/

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AWESOME article in MSN! Check it out here or read below:
http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/Meet+Matt+Hill++Stephanie+Tait/stories_of_survivors/articles/sos_june09.htm?isfa=1

Meet Matt Hill & Stephanie Tait

By Flannery Dean

Last month, this impassioned duo completed a yearlong trek through North America that saw them run a marathon a day for one year.
A workout can go a long way. Running enthusiasts and founders of Run for One Planet (www.runforoneplanet.com) Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait merged their love of running with their love of the planet, and in doing so took the marathon to a whole new level. In May, the impassioned duo completed a yearlong trek through North America that saw them run a marathon a day for one year—they clocked more than 17,000 kilometres—to raise awareness of environmental issues.

How do you decide that running a marathon a day in support of the environment is a good idea? For Tait, a business development coach, it was a question of timing.

“Matt and I were really asking ourselves the bigger life questions: Am I really doing the best I can? Am I doing the best for others? We were both doing fine in life. It’s not that we were trying to escape anything; we just wanted to live a bigger life and give back more. “

It was Hill, an actor, who came up with the idea. Fittingly he filled her in during a trail run.

“While he was saying it, I just knew it. It wasn’t a decision; it was just known,” explains Tait.

After nearly two years of training—at one point they were running up to 140 miles a week—they left Vancouver on May 4, 2008. It was a pretty bold move in more ways than one. Only two years earlier, Tait’s longest run was 10K.

Describing herself as an “average runner”, Tait is surprised she was able to take on such a brutal physical and mental challenge. But she credits her environmental conviction with keeping her going.

“I’m less amazed at what the human body can do—I’m no different than anybody else—I’m more amazed at what the human body can do when the human mind is inspired. Because I really can’t see the possibility of me being able to train for this, let alone do it, without a big massive goal and inspired by a cause.”

That inspiration not only carried them both through all kinds of weather conditions in the US and Canada, including hail, sleet, snow and rain, but it also gave them the energy to speak to more than 15,000 school kids about environmental causes.

Oddly enough, the enthusiasm of the kids wound up inspiring Tait.

“The power of kids, that’s definitely something I’ve learned throughout the course of this experience. I had no idea that they’d be such a huge part of the tour.”

The duo began their yearlong run with some pretty ambitious goals: to raise $1 million and to inspire one million environmental actions. And though they’ve fallen well short of those aims, Tait isn’t disappointed.

“As the tour has gone on, it’s not that we forgot about those goals but it became less about those goals and more about the interaction—the quality experiences we had with people. If we talk to one child and we know that that one child is changed from our experiences then maybe that would count as one action and maybe that kid only donated two dollars but that one kid is going to go home and talk to their mum and talk to their dad and their friends; that is going to spur on a wave of change.”

The pair has raised nearly $100,000, however. That money will go into the Legacy of Action, which will not only encourage more green education for kids, but will also help kids get started with environmentally sound projects of their own.

“It’s all going to go back to kids. We realize the power of young children and mobilizing them. If they want to do green projects they can apply to the Legacy of Action and receive a grant to do it.”

Tait and Hill have big plans. They are hoping to write a book about the environment for kids and one for adults. They’ve also shot a documentary of their journey.

And you can count on more running. They’ll be sponsoring kids at Earth Runs around the world under the Run for One Planet banner.

“We’re going to be mobilizing kids to be a part of that team and raise funds for the legacy,” shares Tait.

Good morning Run For One Planet supporters! It’s Sunday, June 14th already and cannot believe 5 full weeks have now passed under our feet since that magical day in May. It seriously seems like we could have completed well over 3 months ago, as we move forward with our post tour plans, the launching of the Legacy for Kids and our next steps in sharing the journey through a an hour long presentation, with video, photos and stories from the Run For One Planet highway!

We’re also beginning, with huge excitement, the early book writing process, so we can ultimately, share everything we learned and experienced on our 2 ½ year odyssey with the world!

But first, I wanted to write a few words on how much the kids meant to us and how they were the wind beneath our feet on so many occasions. Their pure spirits continually taught us and ensured we kept it simple, not only for our presentations (as most schools allow 30-60 minutes away from class time), but for the tour on the whole (when we didn’t keep the steps small).

Our Army of pint-sized eco-warriors is growing and sits at roughly 26,000 now as we approach the end of the school year. The last remaining presentations we got to do, immediately brought us back to our long (it seems), away from us tour days, with that fresh spark of kid energy!

Thank you to ALL the kids we met on this most incredible journey. You lifted us up, reveled our path to us and invited us in like old friends to the “tree houses and forts of your youth” and gave us the privilege to inspire you with our simple message of Action for this amazing Planet we all share together.

Stay tuned as we get ready to launch the NEW website for all things Run For One Planet in the early, “back to school” days of the Fall.

PS Check out the photos of an AWESOME school in Connecticut who followed us the whole way. We love you Fairhaven School! We really miss presenting at schools like these…!

Check out our latest TV interview with Shaw TV - never before seen footage of our return!