I love a good motivational story. Here's a great one Sugar user tlsgilr brought to my attention. She said after reading this tale, her morning run seems like a piece of cake.

Thirteen-year-old Nicolai Calabria climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, 19,340 feet to the top of the Uhuru Peak, in five and a half days. No easy feat for any 13-year-old, but Calabria was born without a right leg. Climbing with crutches he was motivated by a wonderful cause. He was raising money to provide wheelchairs for those in need of assistance in Tanzania.

The Free Wheel Chair Mission, an organization that modifies lawn chairs into wheelchairs, sponsored Calabria's project. Each modified chair costs just under $50, and Calabria found himself thinking of each step up the steep mountain as 30 cents toward a wheelchair. His father climbed most of the way with him, but succumbed to altitude sickness just shy of the summit. So Nicolai finished without him. Talk about determination. An interesting aside: This kid is also a great soccer player!

The take away message for me, aside from this kid being my new hero, is that setting goals, no matter how small, helps to motivate, as does working for a cause. Why not sign up for a fund-raising race and help take care of yourself why taking care of others?

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