State House to State House - The Run to Stop the Hate

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 "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King Jr.

MA State House
Every year I like to do a couple of runs that I pair with fundraisers.  Last April, I ran from Mount Monadnock to Mount Wachusett (42 miles) as a fundraiser for NF Northeast. After some research into routes, I decided this Spring's run would be from the MA State House to the RI State House.  

As anyone that has been paying attention over the last few years already knows, the world is mess.  It seems the level of hate has increased significantly.  We have ruthless dictators invading sovereign countries, American politicians legislating away identities, and people murdering others simply because they don’t like the color of their skin color.  

My run was a simple way to stand up and say "This is not alright.  We see you, we stand with you, and we support you."

For the benefactors of this run, I chose BAGLY (Boston Alliance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth) and WCK (World Central Kitchen).

BAGLY is a youth-led, adult-supported social support organization, committed to social justice and creating, sustaining, and advocating for programs, policies, and services for the LGBTQ+ youth community.We picked BAGLY as one charity we support because they believe in being safe and being yourself. No one should be illegal for being themselves. 

WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. They build resilient food systems with locally led solutions. We picked World Central Kitchen not only because they have become essential in the recent crisis in Ukraine, but for the work they have been doing in conflict zones and following natural disasters for the past 12 years. To make it even more effective, they do it in a locally, sustainable way. No one should go hungry.

So far we have raised $1668 dollars. Thank you 

If you would like to contribute, please go to:

 
The Run
 
The run started off just before 6am on the Massachusetts State House Steps.  I had Belmont Track Club Friends (Becca, Lisa, Karayln, Donal, and Doug) by my side and they kept me company for the first 9 miles.  

We began by cutting through the Boston Common and the Public Garden before jumping on the South West Corridor (as beautiful 4 miles stretch from Back Bay to Forest Hills).  After cutting through the arboretum, we made our way over to Centre st and then Spring st in West Roxbury.  
 
We joked around quite bit during those initial miles. The best quote was "Scot, next time can we stop the hate a little bit later in the day?"
 
Shortly after mile 9, my friends pealed off to head home.  Donal and Doug jumped on Blue Bikes back to Doug's car while Lisa, Becca, and Karalyn ran back to Belmont.  
 
At this point I was averaging 8:30 and feeling pretty good and even picked the pace up a bit.  

Shortly there after I entered Dedham and stopped at a church to take a picture with the sign that says "Hate has no home here." It really should be this simple.
I continued on through Norwood, running by the Moderna office, and then into Walpole.  Not too much to report through here as it was a lot of uneventful miles.  

Shortly after mile 25, I made a quick pit stop at Walgreens to get something to drink and some band-aids for blister forming on my left heal.  Luckily, it did the trick.  

From there on my pace started to suffer a bit.  What seemed effortless originally, was taking a bit more focus now.  As I ran through Foxborough and then through Attleborough, I stopped a took a picture anytime I saw a Pride flag or a Ukrainian flag in front of a house.  It was nice to see people showing their support. 

When I got to mile 35, I decided it was time for a break.  I was still averaging about 8:50 pace.  I sat under a tree, ate a snack, and enjoyed the sun. 
 
With about 8 miles to go, I finally got off the monotonous roads I was on.  I ran on the 10 mile bike path for a few miles before picking up the waterfront.  My biggest navigational error of the day came right before I crossed the river from East Providence to Providence.  I didn't occur to me that there would be a pedestrian path right next to the highway.  The last few miles were beautiful along the board walk.  My legs were totally shot, but it was great to see so many out and about. 

As the State House came into view, I felt both a sense of relief and a sense of sadness.  I was pretty tired and glad to be finishing up the run, but sad for all those marginalized in today's world.  Why is getting along so difficult.  
 
 
Huge shout out to all of those that supported this endeavor.  

Thank you to Doug, Donal, Becca, Karayln, and Lisa for running with me. 
 
Thank you to Elizabeth Hanlon, Twiggy Chan, Meryl Junik, Carrie-Anne DeDeo, Patrick Phelan, Jessie Bennett, Becca Pizzi, Douglyss Giuliana, Donal Reynolds, Lisa Engler, Yi Zhang, Gary DeDeo, Michael Lepore, Brian LaValle, Brian Tinger, Karalyn Spadaro, Tim and Erin Morin, Christine Da Silva, Brendan Caffrey, Laurie Gagnon, Susan DeDeo, Urvi Mujumdar, Dawn Mullins, Scott White, and Chris Wristen for your generosity and support.      

- Scot

Cramming in the back of Doug's car to get to the start

Below are some fun messages I got before and after the run.

"If it's important to you, it's important to me!"
 
"Scot DeDeo you're welcome!! Thank YOU for running!"
 
"Scot, my son is Trans, so it is I who am appreciative of your efforts to raise awareness and support for the organization. Have a great run!"

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