My Reason

Hi,
My name is Bobby Cockrill and I have decided to run a marathon. Many of you may already know me but a few of you visiting this site will have an opportunity to get to know me and hopefully I will be rewarded with a chance to meet you.

There comes a time in everyones life when you realize that you play such a small role in the overall grand scheme of LIFE! That time has come for me. I have experienced a number of harsh and tough situations growing up and I have wondered what did I do to deserve these experiences. I have a great job, I have the most amazing friends, I have people all over the United States that love me and truly care about me. But what does that mean? Why? What am I doing for them? I have always repeated the montra that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” but I need more than just words. I need a fresh start. I need a way that I can prove to myself and my friends that if I can do something impossible so can they!

26.2 miles should be the perfect proving grounds for myself and to the world. Two years ago I decided on a whim to enter my first Adventure Race. 12 hours of non stop hell. I think two years is a long time to push your mind and your body to its extremes. My goal is to run the marathon in less than 3 hours and 45 minutes. The qualifying times for the NYC Marathon is 2:55 and the Boston is 3:10. I am not saying I could beat that but if I do you can bet your butt that I am going to enter one of those races.

I spent my high school and college years living at a home for boys. I was adopted when I was young and its a long story… All through those years people have showered me with kindness like you have never seen. Blind love and compassion for a boy who was on a mission to make something of himself. I still donate 2% of my salary every year to the Virginia Home for Boys but I have stopped donating my time to other charities. I am not only running to prove to myself that I can accomplish something once thought unattainable, I am running to raise money for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. One of my passions in life is to donate blood. about 8 years ago I was giving an opportunity to send my blood for testing and be considered a donor for bone marrow. I was eager, excited and nervous the a few months ago when I got the call that there might be a little girl I could help. I sent in more blood samples and was notified that it was too late. There was a complication of some sort and she was no longer a candidate for a bone marrow transplant. I am running for my mystery girl! I am running for anybody and everybody like her that deserves a life without needles and testing and worrying. Every penny I raise will have my sweat attached and my heart involved.

We are a drop of water in the ocean of life but if you get enough of use together we can make a difference and I want to be apart of that difference! If we can just drown away one persons worries or sorrows than we have succeeded. “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”

Wish me luck and please come back often and join in on my journey to make a difference, even if it is only in my own life.

Thanks,

Bobby C