For many, a trip to the Australian Outback would be the trip of a lifetime. For Michael Messerschmidt, this is one adventure of many, with more to come. Combining his love for running and travel, Michael recently traveled to Australia to run the Outback Marathon. Read about this amazing, inaugural race and catch some of Michael’s travel bug at the same time.

The Allentown Rotary Club will host it’s first 5k walk/run in an effort to raise money to help fight polio. The Allentown chapter is part of Rotary International which is the world’s first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self.

I sat down and did a question & answer session with Mike Marsteller, founder of the HCM Foundation. You will be impressed to learn just how much his new organization has accomplished during it’s first year of existence. The people behind the scenes within this organization are very real and very caring individuals who are making a huge difference in people’s lives. HCM’s next big event is the FOX CHASE CANCER AWAY event on August 7th. By running this, you, too, can help make a difference.

Paging through yesterday’s Morning Call I came across a full page ad for the Lehigh Valley Health Challenge which benefits the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The Health Challenge is a call to action for people who are relatively new to a fitness lifestyle and looks like a great motivator. If you know of anyone, family or friends, who have recently made the switch from sedentary to active, or someone who might need a good kick in the behind, do them a favor and mention this program to them.
Here is the basic …

Earlier this month, Steve and Loretta Dodson traveled to Easter Island to run the Easter Island Marathon. These world travelers like to combine their love of travel with their love of running and have run marathons on all seven continents in various countries. This year they were able to check Easter Island off their list. Not only that, but they won the race with each placing first in their gender categories. Congratulations Loretta and Steve!

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to hop on a path and run for miles across town? A path on which you could stroll through city parks, past quaint neighborhoods and never lock eyes with motorists who try to run us down? What if you could hop on your bike and commute to work via pedal power?
One of the reasons why I love running at 5:00 a.m. is because the streets are relatively devoid of motorists whom these days seem to drive, at …

Lehigh Valley Running Scene is pleased to announce a new partnership with Aardvark Sports Shop, our very first site sponsor.

The HCM Foundation is an organization which was founded by local runner, Mike Marsteller, in honor of his father who lost his life to cancer. Mike’s goal is to help aid families and victims of cancer through direct assistance such as help with travel expenses, groceries, medical bills, etc. There are many opportunities for you to help with this assistance – the easiest way is to register for and run one of HCM’s running events. Read more inside …