Wheaton 'Reflection Run' to tally laps, dollars for clean water
His eighth annual Reflection Run to provide clean water for people in Africa hasn't yet begun, but looking at the frigid forecast for New Year's Eve already has Steve Spear feeling reflective.
Spear, who plans to run 54 kilometers - one for each year of his life - on Sunday in downtown Wheaton, said he sees the predictions of cold as a call to persevere through the challenges of life.
"It's easy to make it through the days of life, the seasons of life, when the days are warm and sunny," said the man who once ran more than 3,000 miles across the country to support the clean water cause. "But how do you still put one foot in front of the other in the colder, darker times of life?"
Those who support Spear's efforts to provide clean water through a Christian humanitarian organization called World Vision understand his logic, but Spear says they've reminded him: this run "is still going to pretty much suck."
With a laugh, the almost-54-year-old says he's doing it anyway, and he hopes to raise $2,700. That amount would bring clean water for life to 54 people across the 100 nations World Vision serves, at a rate of $50 per person.
Spear says he's specifically motivated by a 2012 trip to Kenya, when he saw how poor water access affects kids' attendance at school, their health, their future.
While visiting the African nation, Spear said he took a daily water walk with a girl named Winnie, now 12, and her mother, Justine. The 2-mile trek took them to a "dirty, contaminated pond many of us wouldn't let our dogs drink out of."
Returning with a 50-pound jug from such a squalid source, Spear said he was moved to act.
"There's a big issue in the world," he said. "We can do something about it. It's preventable."
Spear said he's used Winnie as his inspiration for a long list of running, swimming and biking escapades the past several years to raise money for Team World Vision, for which he now works as director of endurance.
By last year's seventh Reflection Run, his efforts had totaled $625,000 - enough to bring clean water to 12,500 people for their entire lives, using strategies such as borehole wells, pipeline systems, dams and reservoirs.
"It's not a cookie-cutter approach," he said.
This year, while running marathons in Chicago and Indianapolis and competing an Ironman triathlon in Madison, Spear said he's raised another $10,000. He's seeking to increase that total as he braces to run his New Year's Eve laps around Wheaton.
"Hopefully that'll cap off a good year," he said.
Spear's fundraising page at teamworldvision.org so far has raised $202 toward its $2,700 goal. He hopes donations will continue to come in as he counts chilly laps around the Wheaton 121 complex and the Wheaton Public Library.
"It'll definitely be a breezy one," Spear said.
The Reflection Run begins at 7 a.m. Sunday and is expected to conclude by 3 p.m. after a total of 33.55 miles.