WICKED RUN PRESS: "I'm Batman!" Running The New York City Marathon for Covenant House

Yes, I’m Batman. Or The Dark Knight, and by running the New York City Marathon for Covenant house, I am doing what I can to fight the powers of Bane. Let me explain how.

First off all, I was pretty darn disappointed in Bane as a villain. While it would have been impossible for Bane to live up to the Joker, he at least needed to be a foil for Batman, a counter-ego who reflected the dark parts of the dark knight like the joker did, Instead, his voice was near comical, his facelessness made him faceless (imagine that) I didn’t really fear him, and ultimately, he came across as a flat puppet. Dare I say that he could have even made a guest appearance as a villain in an Austin Powers movie.

That said, Bane, like most evil-doers, lives off of the disenfranchised and the despair of the hopeless and the downtrodden. His recruits, his soldiers, as you see in The Dark Knight Rises, include those who have aged out of foster care.

Yes, the first ‘soldier’of Bane who is discovered dead was actually a young adult who had aged out of the foster care homes, and with no place to go, he goes to be a solider in the tunnels and serve Bane. The stories of the tunnels have spread to the younger children in foster care, who say “I hear there’s work down there." Of course, there's not, just a more grim future and wasted potential.

Bane and his recruited soldiers from the underground

This “aged out of foster care” population, who don't have interventions to assist them but are simply cut lose, is the very population which Covenant house serves. Covenant House offeres alternatives to finishing their high school education, (in Detroit this service is right there on the campus) and provides job training as well as a place to live.

Or, we can just sit back, and watch these young adults, who need a little help, fall victim to the likes of Bane.

Facetious, I am being, of course, but only slightly, and I’m very pumped to be running for Covenant House not just because of who they serve, but how they do what they do. Very personal, immediate, hands on, with daily outreach to the streets of Detroit. Otherwise, this population will fall into the cracks of the metaphorical tunnels of the underworld living below us all the time, and beckoning with false hope and then delivering more misfortunes.

Plus, look at this great shirt they sent me.

My training for new York is going exceedingly well yet surprisingly lame. I have put in two 20 milers already, and the event is 98 days away, so I have time for 3 or 4 long runs left in me. I also recently ran 13 miles at a pace 15-20 seconds under marathon pace, as well as another nice mile interval session with 6 times 7:20’s. On the other hand, my weekly mileage is terrible. Last week I did just 18 miles, but beat that in a single day yesterday with my 20 miler.

Either way, I’m running with excitement and purpose, and with each stride I take today, Bane will have one less solider in the tunnels tomorrow.