Jeremy Hughes takes his 18-month-old daughter Molly and his 5-year-old son Emmett along for the ride as he trains for the Akron Children’s Hospital Akron Marathon Race Series.
With about 140 days left until the Akron Children’s Hospital Akron Marathon, Half Marathon & Team Relay presented by FirstEnergy, Jeremy Hughes has already had to increase his fundraising goal as a Children’s Champion.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever blindly emailed everyone on my email contacts list and I was surprised by the response,” said Jeremy, who is closing in on $900 in donations and is now aiming to raise $2,500.
Jeremy has been running off and on for more than 10 years and ran in the half marathon and team relay portions of the Akron Marathon in the past, so when he and his family moved back to Ohio last year he knew it was a race he wanted to do again.
“We’ve always liked Akron, I went to the University of Akron for a little bit and had a house there for a while,” he said.
A nurse and a father, Jeremy said he’s also always liked Akron Children’s, which is one reason why he took the extra step to sign up as a Children’s Champion when he registered for the Akron Children’s Hospital Akron Marathon Race Series.
“A friend of mine also had a son who ended up at Akron Children’s twice within the first few weeks and months of his life,” Jeremy said. “He had open heart surgery at eight days old, but he’s doing really well these days.”
In addition to sending emails and sharing his Children’s Champion efforts on Facebook, Jeremy said he’s also working with a friend to host a fundraising event.
“A friend of mine runs a charity called Super Heroes To Kids In Ohio that visits kids in hospitals,” he said. “Instead of donating himself, he’s trying to put together a fundraiser at a comic book store that would benefit my run.”
Jeremy said he thinks being a Children’s Champion goes hand in hand with training to run in the FirstEnergy Marathon, Half Marathon & Team Relay.
“I think it’s an easy way to make an impact,” he said. “Any money is better than nothing.”
Jeremy’s kids join him as he trains. He pushes his son and older daughter in a stroller through most of his runs – they log more than 30 miles each week with their dad.
Click here to join Jeremy as a Children’s Champion and support Akron Children’s while you train, or to make a donation to any Children’s Champion runner.
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