This week I found two great ways to make a greater impact with your running.  This first was mentioned to me by Tony B. over at Daily Mile.  
When you sign up with Plus 3 you pick one of their sponsored charities. Then you begin to upload your workouts,either through your GPS unit or manually to their site. Based on your workout the sponsor of each charity will donate money to the charity you selected.  While the amount is not incredibly large (a 10 mile run and 5 mile bike ride netted me $0.90 for my charity) the overall impact can be great. The site also features challenges that can lead to prizes for participants.  The best part is, your really not doing anything extra.  As an added bonus, the site also provides you many of the stats (such as pace, BPM, speed, etc. as your Garmin Connect) when you upload from a GPS unit. 
The second site is The Movement Challenge, sponsored by New Balance.  Again, when you sign up you pick a charity.  In comparison with Plus 3 there is a much wider variety here. There is also the option to name your own charity, although you must have the tax ID number for the charity that you choose.  When you sign up you are also given the option to enter a referral code, (I'd love for you to enter mine: ff283bf2-23ce-4799-b8fb-47a708c360e8 (save your fingers and copy and paste)).  You don't even have to be a runner to help support the cause.  If you are a runner, The Movement Challenge only tracks the races that you compete in.  Once the race is over you log your bib number, time and distance.  The winner walks away with $25,000 for their charity (plus opportunities along the way to win swag from New Balance) so it makes since that the challenge is a little more difficult.
For Plus 3 I went with The American Red Cross.  Back in 2005 I was a minister in Baton Rouge, LA that opened up a shelter for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. I appreciate all the help that the Red Cross offered, including coming to our church to help those in need.
For the Movement Challenge I selected World Vision as my charity.  If you have been reading this blog for awhile now you know that this year I running for Team World Vision in order to provide wells for clean water to families in Africa. 
I would greatly appreciate your support in both of the causes.
Also if you would be willing to support my personal efforts with Team World Vision you can go to my donation site.

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