Thank You, Under Armour

I've been meaning to send Under Armour a thank you note for quite some time.  As a Baltimore-based sportswear company, Under Armour does an incredible job giving back to our community.

Yesterday, I completed the half-marathon in Under Armour's Baltimore Running Festival with about 15,000 other runners and walkers.  Even though Under Armour's refrain is "athletes run," many older adults and former athletes are happy to have all of their body parts intact enough to be able to walk the 13.1 miles*...

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It was a beautiful fall day for the 12th annual festival that raised over $1 million for local charities and hosted more than 26,000 participants in a series of events including the marathon, half-marathon, team relay, 5K, and kids' fun run.

While walking on car-free streets through iconic Baltimore neighborhoods, I enjoyed listening to the walkers / slow runners around me who talked about their training routines.  One group in particular, who had never completed a half-marathon, spoke of how they stepped up their training regimens and discovered untapped abilities. Thank you, Under Armour for hosting this inspiring, fun, fitness event.

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Under Armour has improved the local fitness environment by sponsoring a little league playing field in Locust Point and replacing a  basketball court next to the American Visionary Art Museum. The court itself is a work of art. It's fun watching pick-up basketball games on the beautiful court while walking above it on Federal Hill Park paths. Thank you again Under Armour for making fitness activities more accessible to all.

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Several years ago, during a visit to Kansas City, Missouri I was struck by the absence of trash on city streets. Serving as our neighborhood association's clean-up committee chairperson, I wondered what Kansas City was doing differently that Baltimore could adopt. One noticeable difference was readily available closed trash cans throughout Kansas City. Several weeks later, during a walk through the Inner Harbor section of Charm City, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Under Armour had sponsored solar-powered composting trash cans throughout the area as part of their "green" initiative. Having walking paths, sidewalks, and streets clear of trash makes them more inviting for runners, walkers, and bicyclists. Thank you once again, Under Armour for keeping the charm in Charm City.

Be Well,
Mary

* NOTE:  A marathon is 26.2 miles and thus, a half-marathon is 13.1 miles. A brief history of a long race describes its inception from a 25 mile Marathon to Athens, Greece race during the first modern 1896 Olympic Games.

P.S.  Please ignore the text box below; your comments are always welcome here.

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