2012 Date is Set! Sign Up Link Below!

I hope everyone is taking advantage of the warm weather we are having and enjoying the outdoors!

We are busy planning the 4th Annual Run for Ella.  This year’s event will be held September 8, 2012.  The same challenging course will be used but if 5k of rocks, roots, and hills wasn’t enough you can keep going!  We are adding a 10k to this year’s event.  You will have your option of 10k, 5k, or 1 mile fun run.

Our community has been amazing!  With the support of runners and sponsors we have raised $32,000 in the past 3 years and 100% of this has been given to families in LincolnCounty.  This has not been possible without YOU.  I hope you will put this date on your calendar and come out for what I hope to be our biggest year yet.

Stay tuned for upcoming announcements as the race date approaches.

If you would like to volunteer or sponsor the race please contact me at sbswindall@gmail.com or 931.205.3118.

2012 Sponsorship Form

2012 Online Registration

 


2011 Race Results

Thank you for coming out to the 3rd Annual Run for Ella.  We had a beautiful day and a great turnout.

Race Results are now available here!


 

Pictures from the race here.

 


Early packet pickup

The big day is almost here!

Early race packet pickup will be at Elk River Coffee Company on Friday from 4:30 – 6:00.  Come by and get your race number and t-shirt.  While you are there enjoy a cup of coffee and desert (you can burn the calories off Saturday).

Elk River Coffee Company is located at 117 Main Ave North.

If you are not able to make it Friday, packet pickup and registration opens at 7:00am

See you at the race.


Are you ready?

6 days and counting.  Still time to be part of this great event!

Here is a photo of the Trophies being worked on!


Are you training yet?

It looks like the cold, harsh winter is finally over so it is time to lace up your running shoes.

 The 3rd Annual Run for Ella will be held on May 7th and it’s time to start training. We will be using the same challenging course from last year so come out to beat your neighbor or to better your time from last year.

The past two years have been amazing. With the support of our sponsors and you we have raised $24,000. 100% of the proceeds have been donated to families in our community in need.

The proceeds from this year’s event will be used to set up a fund to help cover unexpected financial burdens that go along with such devastating accidents as the past two beneficiaries have experienced. This year’s event will also raise funds for the Edward P. Ellis Scholarship fund. Edward was a 12 year old child that passed away of Lenox Gastaut Syndrom, a rare form of epilepsy.

Please consider taking part in this event.

Race info

Start/Finish – Cotton Mill Preserve
204 Shelbyville Hwy
Fayetteville, TN 37334

5k Run/Walk Starts at 8am
$25 entry fee – Includes Run for Ella t-shirt (only guaranteed to preregistered participants)

1 mile Run/Walk Starts at 9:00am
$10 entry fee – Included Run for Ella t-shirt (only guaranteed to preregistered participants)

Awards at 9:30am. 
Overall winners will receive custom trophies and  prizes from Fleet Feet and Swiftwick.
Age Group winners will receive ribbons and prizes from Fleet Feet and Swiftwick.


Update on Ella Brown!

How are things going?  How is Ella doing?  Ella’s good now, right?  We get these questions all the time.  Even now – almost two years after our world was turned upside down.  While we love that she continues to be on people’s  minds-sometimes it is difficult to explain just how she is doing now.  If you were to see her run past you, you would think-wow, she is amazing, and she is completely fine!  And while she is amazing, if you were to spend time with her daily-you would see a very different picture.  Take this morning for instance, I told Ella to go into the utility room and get a pair of her pants that were hanging on the rack.  I stood watching from a distance.  She ran in, looked back and forth, yelled that she didn’t see them, and after I slowly said “Ella, look to your left, “she finally managed to focus in on the pants that were right in front of her.  Take another common occurrence around our house-she will walk into a room where I am sitting, look straight at me and say, “Where’s mom?”  I have often gone to her school, walked down the hall and met her class coming from the other direction.  I will see her and then her friends will see me, come running, while Ella continues on, unaware that I am even around until one of her friends tell her.  Those moments rip my heart out.  Those moments make me want to figure out a way to turn back time and relive that day all over again-making sure I did everything different so the outcome could not in any way be the same.  However, I know that is impossible and so we keep pushing forward.  And when people ask how Ella is, more often than not, I am just going to say great. Great, except for the fact that she still isn’t reading because she can’t see her textbooks, still has to have therapy three times a week to work on her vision, balance, and coordination, still writes like a kindergartner in 3rd grade.

Even still, Ella is amazing.  She has an amazing spirit. I am melted every time I hear that deep belly laugh that she has had since she was little.  She can repeat anything she hears verbatim if she needs to.  She made Honor Roll last semester and when she walked across the gym to receive her award – it was hard for me to contain the tears – she was never supposed to walk again, talk again, never supposed to live.  SHE IS A WALKING, TALKING MIRACLE!

When the RUN FOR ELLA began, we were in Atlanta.  We knew the event was being planned, but we were so consumed with Ella’s recovery that we just basically knew to show up on this date.  I remember getting up and heading out that morning.  Ella was walking with assistance-she had come so far.  When we arrived, I couldn’t believe the number of cars and people.  It was amazing!  It was amazing to see all the support and love for our little girl.  She was still a bit timid, not seeing well but excited at the prospect of seeing friends.  I know that she had no clue of the lengths that people had gone to make the day a success. But, we did.  It was amazing.  I truly cannot express our gratitude.  Every time I think of those dark days, I am still lifted up by the support and prayers given – often by people who had no clue who Ella was.

In the past two years, I will be honest.  I have struggled a bit at times coming to terms with Ella’s accident.  I have always considered myself a faithful person, but it is very difficult to understand why God would allow such a horrible thing to happen to a little girl with her whole life ahead of her.  Why did she get picked?  Often people would say to me, “There will be some good come from this, some blessings.”  This was a difficult pill to swallow for me.  What good could possibly outweigh this bad-this struggle that has often felt like a giant wave which has all but succumbed our entire family at times?  So I waited, impatiently, for good, for a blessing.  I knew we were blessed to have all the support and prayers.  I knew we were blessed to still have Ella, but I wanted Ella back the exact same way Ella was on April 17th….just as I assume any parent would.

A couple of weeks ago after a devotional group with several ladies from my church, I realized several things.  First, I have been blessed beyond measure-perhaps not in the exact way I would have preferred, but blessed.  Blessings do not always come wrapped perfectly.  Second, why am I waiting on Ella’s accident to become a blessing?  Why not make it a blessing by stopping the pity party and blessing someone else?  Remember the saying, “Because I have been given much, I too must give.”

Last year, an amazing group of people came forward and took the Run for Ella event and for lack of a better term, ran with it.  Another child had been hurt in an unfortunate accident, and her family found themselves in need of the same support we had needed just a year before.  Unfortunately, I had a small baby and we did not get to assist as much as we would have liked.  However, when discussing the event with a friend this year, I told her that we really wanted to help out in some way.  It was determined early on that the Run for Ella would be an annual event, and I wanted Ella and our family to have an opportunity to give back, to help others as she had been helped.  So this year, all the cards fell into place and we are going to help with the event.  The 3rd Annual Run for Ella, will be on May 7th, 2011 with the mission of “helping children and families cope with life changing events.”

Recently, I spoke on the 107.5 River of Hope Radiothon for Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and they asked me what I would say to other parents, who might be listening and considering donating.  I said that I never expected this to happen to us.  You hear about tragedies, but they just don’t happen to you, not your child…..only someone else’s.  And, then we became the family everyone was talking about.  We became the tragedy.  It happened to us.  It can happen to anybody, and I hope that the Run for Ella can be utilized to help assist those people who find themselves in that position, the one that they never thought would happen.

Our goal is to set up a fund that will be able to assist in times of need.  To provide gifts to families that are struggling through situations that they never dreamed could happen.  In addition, this year, a portion of the funds will be donated in memory of Edward Ellis.  The funds will be used to set up a scholarship fund in honor of this sweet boy that was taken too soon.

Please consider taking part of this event!  It has already done so much to assist families in need.  Be the blessing….don’t wait for it!

Thanks from the Sara Brown & Famly

 


2011 Date is Set!

It’s hard to think about getting outside for a run right now but it’s never too early to start training for this year’s Run for Ella.  The date has been set for May 7th.  We expect this event to continue to grow and become even more competitive this year.  So get outside!

Once again we will be using all funds raised for a worthy cause.  Stay tuned for upcoming announcements as the race date approaches.

Run For Ella 2011 5K Run Poster


2010 Race Results and More Pics

Results are now available! Click here to view them.

 

More pictures courtesy of Paul Henery.


2010 Run for Ella

Thanks again for everyone coming out to make this year’s Run for Ella a success.   We had 267 runners in the 5k and 1 mile run on this extremely hot day.  I hope everyone had as much fun as I did.

The moment that made my day was to see Ella at the front of the group for the 1 mile run.  Only 1 year and 3 months after her accident she was showing us all her determination and strength once again.

I can’t wait until next year to see Jules do the same!

A special thanks again to the people that made this event possible.

Steve Swindall and NDesgins who worked on everything from websites, shirts, trophies, and promotion.  Fleet Feet Sports of Huntsville that provided gift certificates for all Age Group and Overall winners. Clay and Amy Higgins for letting us use their beautiful land and putting together a course that challenged all. There are many others that gave time, money, and products to make this event a success.

Thank You

Results and More Pictures coming soon…


Photos from the Race!

Here are some new photos from Valarie Garner McCann of the race:  Click Here to View!