As we work to build healthy communities and a peaceful world I invite you to join me in Going the Distance for Peace this spring. Whether this is your first or fifth marathon you have the power to inspire other to get involved in creating peace by supporting your drive and motivation. Here's how you do it:

1. Find a race! Search for local raises in your area by googling the ‘name of your city or town and half marathon or marathon.’ Pick your race.



2. Recruit friends. Ask friends, family, and members of your SPA chapter to make a commitment to run the race and raise money for SPA. Marathon and half marathon training is a great way to build rapport within your chapter and will get your group motivated to take more action together.



3. Register your event at studentpeacealliance.org. Create a profile for yourself by clicking on the icon at the upper right side of the SPA website and enter your information. Once you have a profile create and event and invite people to join. You should also create a fundraising page under your profile which will allow you to send messages to your family and friends and which will allow you to track your donations on the way to hitting your goal! Don’t forget to send the message to spa.finance@thepeacealliance.org so we know you’ll be joining us!



4. Start a facebook support group. Facebook is a great tool to get more people involved and keep your team connected and supported throughout the training process. Through this group you can send out weekly training schedules, race information, helpful training tips, and organize weekly training sessions to get your group together for a run. This is a great way to keep people motivated and on track with their training. Click here to see a group that’s already been created.



5. Send out emails and messages asking for family and friends to pledge a donation per mile. Once you have organized your team and have begun training it’s now time to send out a message to family and friends asking for their support from your SPA profile on studentpeacealliance.org. After you have sent the message it’s important that you follow up with a phone call encouraging supporters to pledge to give based on the miles you complete in your race. Keep track of your supporters and the money they’ve pledged and watch you reach your goal on your fundraising page. To see an example fundraising page click here.




6. Run the Race!!!


7. Send a final message out to supporters which reports your race results and asks them donate one last time.



This is a great event to get your chapter excited about fundraising and will also serve as a great team building opportunity! Join the hundreds of SPA activist Going the Distance for Peace today!