NFL Evolution and NFL Health Playbook will feature a guest columnist every Tuesday, each with a different viewpoint of player health and safety from the youth level to pro football.
By Chris Golic, NFL Health Playbook columnist
Last football season I was sitting one evening watching ESPN's Monday Night Countdown and Rick Reilly did a story about a wide receiver named David Nelson who at the time was playing for the New York Jets.
The piece that Reilly did though wasn't about what Nelson was doing on the football field but rather how he and his brothers had become advocates for orphans in Haiti. The selfless labor of love they were doing touched me so much that I immediately went online and made a donation to their organization which is called "I'm ME." Then I went on with my life.
Fast forward to April 23, 2015, I saw a tweet to me from David on my phone asking how he can get my husband and me to run the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 to raise money and awareness for his organization.
I am not going to lie: When I saw his request I gulped hard. First of all. I knew there was no way my husband Mike was going to be able to run it and, secondly, I knew there was no way I could not.
Here we are and it's mid-July. I am about halfway through my training for the run and I am still really nervous about participating in my first marathon. I feel like running the NYC Marathon as your first marathon is like playing in the Super Bowl for your first NFL game. I am one of those people, though, who believe things come into your life for a reason and I believe the paths of David Nelson and myself crossed even by long distance for a reason. So I run.
The reasons for me agreeing to run are numerous. Obviously the first and most important being to raise money and awareness for I'm ME, but there are personal reasons to run. It's time for me to put my money where my mouth is as a parent. While my kids were growing up and working very hard to achieve the goals both academically and athletically I would constantly encourage them to keep trying. I told them over and over that there was nothing that they couldn't do if they set their minds to it. Quitting was never an option even when things got difficult and daunting and they succeeded. Now it's my turn.
As parents we need to show our kids that we are not just talk. We need to show them that we are willing to push ourselves whether it be athletically or in other aspects of life. We shouldn't shy away from trying things just because they may be difficult.
Come Nov. 1, I will be running the streets of New York hoping to raise a boatload of money for David and the orphans in Haiti. I also hope I can send a message or two to my children and other parents out there. Don't be afraid to try something because it's hard; don't ask your kids to put themselves out there if you are not willing to do the same.
Life sometimes is about moving outside your comfort zone for the good of others. So I run.
To sponsor Chris Golic in the New York City Marathon as part of the "I'm ME" foundation, click on this link.
Christine Golic is the NFL's Consultant on Youth Football and a member of the Heads Up Football Advisory Committee. Golic is the wife of Mike Golic, a nine year NFL veteran and co-host of ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning," and mother of two sons who played college football at Notre Dame and a daughter who is a swimmer at Notre Dame.
