Running to raise money for charity

Times Reporter

 

Running has become a passion of Jaime Fairbairn’s ever since she first began to run in 2006. At the time Fairbairn had heard someone talking about how they were going to run a half-marathon, and all she could think was ‘well I can do it.’

Once she got it into her head, she started running by the boundary roads, she would run from one light post to the next and then walk one and so on. Eventually she got a watch that tracked intervals and she would run for five minutes and walk for a minute. Now she usually runs 10 minutes and then walks a minute when in the big races. 

Rather than running a half-marathon for her first race, Fairbairn completed a full marathon, 26.2 miles, instead. 

She has previously run with Team Diabetes, raising funds for diabetes research, while getting to participate in either half or full marathons of her choice. 

This year she is running to raise money for Leukemia and blood cancers. 

“It’s a little boy in kindergarten that was diagnosed recently with the lymphoma, so that’s when I decided I would do Team in Training,” said Fairbairn. 

She chose to run a half marathon in San Diego, which had a minimum fundraising goal of $4,000 to participate. The Toy Swap held on April 14 helped Fairbairn break her minimum expectations, and she is now contemplating raising $7,000 and running in Montreal as well this year.

“I just finished my fundraising this week, I’m at about $4,500, but I’m still fundraising because it all goes for good,” said Fairbairn.

She has completed four full marathons and this will be her fifth half marathon. Most of her marathons have been to raise money for charity.

Two of her bigger fundraising marathons with Team Diabetes were going to run in Dublin, Ireland and Reykjavik, Iceland.

“If I’m going to run, I’m going to run somewhere else, I can run in Calgary any day,” said Fairbairn.

“My ultimate dream, and I am hoping it will happen in 2014, is to run the Goofy challenge with Team Diabetes. On Saturday you run a half (marathon) and on Sunday you run the full. That’s my running dream, to accomplish that.”

“I like putting on events, and I like to pick a charity that means something. I don’t have cancer but this little boy Owen was in our kindergarten class that I work in and when you get that kind of news for a child, it makes me thankful that my kids are healthy.