What now?

This blog will be documenting the efforts of (so far) 4 ladies in their valiant, collective attempt to plan and execute a full-sized 5K race in San Diego, California.  We have no prior experience doing something of this magnitude, and we're starting with no resources whatsoever, save our vivid imaginations and reputable spunk. 

Meet your blogger:  that's me up there ^.  My name is Kelsea Rae Little, and I have grown up in San Diego almost all of my life.  As you can see from this recent photo of me, I just graduated from college; UCSD to be exact, with a Bachelor of Arts in Literatures of the World.  Trust me, I’m thinking the exact same thing as you are:  “Well… what are you gonna do with that?” The problem isn’t so much that I have no idea, it’s that I have too many ideas.

Ever since I can remember, I have been a chronic dabbler.  I have tried almost everything there is to try, and I’m pretty certain I’ve, at least for a 1 week window, considered every profession under the sun.  Oceanographer, ballerina (I’m 5’4 with a stout athletic body type, so that one was never gonna happen), professional rock star, archaeologist, historian, orchestral harpist, potter, painter, bakery owner, psychologist, eating disorder counselor, veterinarian… you name it, I’ve probably wanted to be it before.  I think perhaps this is indicative of a few things.  

Firstly, I’ve read in a few places that this is not uncommon for my generation (I’m 23.)  People used to be streamlined into jobs more easily because, well, there was at lest a little bit less to choose from.  It has become a lot more common to study your passions in college without a specific job waiting for you at the other end, just some faint glimmer of a successful young professional version of yourself, well-dressed and living in an oversized artist's loft somewhere, with a little leather briefcase and a puppy.  I blame the indie movie genre for this gross misconception.  So then, if this is not the reality, what are we left with?   A whole bunch of super creative, well-educated twenty-somethings with liberal arts degrees, fresh off the quad, all dressed up and nowhere to go.  That’s me in a nutshell, at this point in my life.  And quite honestly, I don't think I'm alone.

Secondly, I have always had a fairly easy time having confidence in myself, so I can easily envision myself doing any of these things.  It’s the commitment that’s the problem.  Not that I’m unwilling to commit to something, or put in the work.  I love working hard.  It’s more this overwhelming fear that if I pick just one thing, and I don’t end up liking it, then that’s it for me.  That’s my life.  If I accept one job and get too comfortable, and then I am stuck here forever in an Aldous Huxley sheeple clone hell, like all those people in movies who hate their jobs and can never, ever escape.   Man, I gotta lay off the movies.

And the third reason I've dabbled in so many things and still haven't been able to decide what I want to do after 23 years of window shopping...  I am genuinely interested in a shitload of things!  Just go out into the world and look around; everything is amazing!  I want to learn all the things!  However, I've started to realize lately that all of the things I'm drawn to have some sort of lowest common denominator.  I can definitely feel it, can only sometimes name it.  But that discovery made me feel a little better about having to maybe finally pick a "career path."  If I can extract the essence of the kind of work that I want to do in life, then I will at least be able to narrow things down.  So far, I know one thing for damn certain:      I want to help people.

So how does the 5K fit into all of this?

I am an avid social media user, I have had so many amazing opportunities come to me through the magical powers of the Internet.  I'm hoping this will be another one of those instances.  I have an Instagram account (@folkharpist) and I stumbled across a graphic artist whose art I fell in love with, @popesaintvictor.  After following his photos for a good 6 months, I watched him post pictures during a trip to Uganda.  He would link to his work's website, and I was curious what kind of work took him all the way to Africa.  That's how I found Blood:Water Mission.  I started reading their website, and absolutely fell in love with their work.  In a few words, they build HIV/AIDS testing/treatment facilities in impoverished African communities, as well as clean water irrigation systems.  Many African people have to walk miles and miles and miles to the nearest water source, every day, and that water is usually ridden with bacteria and disease.  In my opinion, clean water is a basic human right.  I immediately wanted to get involved.

I also love running!  It's my favorite exercise, my daily escape into a peaceful mindset.  5K "fun runs" are getting more popular by the week.  I'm always getting Groupons about them, or seeing friends post about ones they've signed up for.  Fun runs are a great way for many different members of large communities to get together to do something fun, healthy, and beneficial to a cause!  Often, participants aren't even aware what their money is going toward, but I want that to be different with mine.  I'd like to raise awareness as well as plan a fun event, and get people excited about giving back.  As most of my ideas do, it just sort of popped into my head, full-fledged, and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I have ideas all the time, but this one felt extra worthy of a good college try.  (See what I did there?)

I would love a job that allowed me to spend all of my time helping people while also being creative, just like what Victor does for Blood:Water Mission, but you usually need experience to get those kinds of opportunities.  So I created a form of experience.  I decided to just do it anyway.  And then I asked a few friends to get involved.  And here we are.

We just had our first meeting last night.  So far it's me, my cousin Dani, my ex-Whole Foods coworker Dre and childhood friend Taylor.  We might sound like a ragtag group, but these women are all ones I deeply respect for their intelligence, hard work ethics and good hearts (plus they're preeeeetty!)  They just met and already get along like old pals.

Our mission is to plan and execute a moderately-sized 5K fun run, to take place approximately one year from now.  My personal goal is to get at least 500 runners.  The fun part is that you get to dress up like superheroes, because you are being a superhero for Africa.  You get to run a race while wearing a CAPE!  Talk about a FUN RUN!

We are fully aware (and are becoming more aware by the day) how much work this will take.  We need permits, traffic control, sponsors, port-a-potties, an insurance policy, police forces, water, snacks, donations, volunteers, and so much more.  It seems like a gigantic feat, but I think if we can pull it off, it will be a major accomplishment and all in the name of a cause I care deeply about.  I always envisioned myself older when I'd have the opportunity to help organize something like this, but then I thought, why wait?

My friend Jeffery Joe has the most amazingly poignant quote at the top of his Facebook page, and I think about it everyday:

"The trouble is, you think you have time."  

Today we got our first sponsor.  Tomorrow we take over the world.  Thank you for reading.  Please email me at superhero5Krun@gmail.com if you would like to get involved.  We would love to have you.  I'll be documenting our entire process in this blog, so if you see an area you can help in, or know someone who can, just chime in :)