Zach's blog to you!

Hey guys, Zach Hamm here! Before this run, I never thought about the endangered wildlife in Florida the way I do now. I learned a lot a about the panthers and alligators. Learning about the panthers and getting to see dozens of alligators in person has affected me deeply and I can't turn away from the importance of maintaining the habitats of our local wildlife. I hope our efforts to raise awareness have been eye opening to our followers.

Zach and Kim want to say thanks!!

Only a little bit left to go! Zach and Kim want to say thanks to Cristina Ferrer!

Gretchen's blog going over 7 mile bridge

Oh, six thirty in the morning and my only goal is to not fall into the water this morning. Seven mile bridge. The distance isn't scary, it's the morning drivers and the black water that we're running over. As the sun comes up an the miles roll by, my stomach begins to settle. Key West is in our plans today and I'm excited for the next forty miles that lie ahead.

Go Eagles!!

President Bradshaw leads by example! Many thanks to him and his wife Jo Anna for their donation, thanks for believing in us!

Go Eagles!

Deja Vu!

Beginning from the Collier-Seminole State Park, Day 7 is on its way! Seems like it was just yesterday that we were at this point at the end of Day 1. Let's give our runners motivation a they make their final approach to finish at FGCU! Donate at www.indiegogo.com/t4tails!

Sunset in the Everglades

The day comes to a close as the sun sets over the marshy Everglades! The runners are tired but happy. We're closer than ever to out goal and Santi would like to thank Christina Padgett for her donation! Check out www.indiegogo.com/t4tails to support us and donate for the panthers!

Our supporters keep us going!

Another big shout out to Maggie Seitz! You're amazing and thanks for your support! Kim thanks you Maggie! (:

Thank you Victoria!

Dr. Kelly and Zach wish to thank Victoria McConnell for her help and support! If you wish to join Victoria as one of our supporters, visit www.indiegogo.com/t4tails and donate!

Lets go indiegogo!

Its the sixth day and were making progress: both on the trail and on our indiegogo page! Special thanks to Alison Gagliardi from some of our runners! (:

Mike sends a message to his family

Good morning from the Keys!! We're about 30 miles into our 5th day and we're still going strong. The sun is out, the breeze is just right and the view of the ocean is picture perfect. I'd like to say hi to my wife Kristin, my son Mikey and my daughter Mia! Thinking about them and all of the silly and fun things that we experience each day as a family has helped me get through my longer runs. I love you guys so much and thank you for supporting me on this trip. I'd like to thank everyone who helped plan and organize this run and also a big thank you to everyone who donated!! It's almost time to run again, talk to you guys soon.....

Jason's blog: Sore but still going

Good morning! On the road again for the 5th day of this relay race, and I'm feeling pretty okay, although my legs are really sore. But it's all good! I did want to mention how when I'm out there running, I realize how fast these cars are driving past me. It's scary honestly, animals that live around here don't stand a chance against a speeding car! We have notice a lot of litter along the way, as well, which is really disappointing. On a positive note, I'm looking forward to BEING DONE! Love the cause, but this is definitely hard and we're all really sore and tired. Don't do this at home, kids!

Dr. Kelly's Blog of the Day

This has been amazing. We are on day 5 and ready to leave from Marathon. Thanks to the Coconut Cay Resort for all of your support of FGCU! This has been surprisingly tiring. The mornings are humid, afternoons blazing hot, and the nights just exhausting. But even with all of this, runners were fighting to take on the extra miles last night. Really, anyone who thinks all young people are lazy never met this crew.

Everyone is in good spirits, giddy even. Make no mistake about it though, we want to get home. We’ve all learned a ton about our abilities, lives, friendships. I’ve learned to update Facebook statuses and that properly cared for blisters don’t pop by themselves (gross, I know). We’ve met good people who care about supporting animals and others, and mean people who would sacrifice our natural environment on mere ideological grounds.

Thank you to all of our Panther Kittens, Buddies, and Warriors! Thank you also to our families. You have been so supportive, especially when each of us went into the “dark night” of our souls on this voyage. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you at Bar Louie on Friday! We’re just $1000 from our final goal. Thank you for your support and for encouraging others to help us make this a 100% success!!!!!!

Key-Deer-in-the-headlights-look

Hello to all our panther people! It's day four and we've been running all through the Keys for two days now. The miles are long, the days are hot, but most importantly the cars are going fast. I honestly can't imagine any kind of panther or Key deer trying to move about at night. This is why we're doing what we're doing. Don't forget to donate at www.indiegogo.com/t4tails, we know Jena Thompson did and we appreciate the help, thank you!!

Why Gina Runs

Hey everyone! I'm taking time off the run to tell you a little about myself. I started running in middle school, but then stopped running for over ten years. During my time away from running I did not lead a very active lifestyle. It wasn't until my father had a heart attack during my second year in college that I began focusing on my health. Since then I have picked up running again and feel healthier than I have in years. I wanted to participate in this event because I have always been passionate about conservation. On Saturday, I graduated with my BS in Biology, and I thought this would be a great start to a new chapter in my life.

Jason loves the animals! His blog post.

Every time that its my turn to hit the road, I think: Am I definitely insane for signing up to do this. I'm tired, the van smells of smelly runners feet, and the runners in my van can't get our group gang sign right (get it together Aby!). But as I was running down US1, I saw a Key Deer at the side of the road looking at me. Key deer are endangered animals down here in the Keys, and I remember how nice it was to see them from when I used to live in the Keys myself. The number of key deer that are hit by cars is boggling to me. It's a big conservation effort here to help the small population that they have left. That reminded me why I like this cause. Because not only is this money going towards the Florida panther, but towards helping other endangered creatures in Florida as well.

Dr. Kelly blog post

What used to motivate me was this quote: "Remember, someone busier than you has already run today." This has taught me that that quote is misguided. Instead, I wonder how many are so busy that they cannot run today. I hope I remember this when I get home.

Good morning from Aby!

As day 3 comes to an end we've ran so far that we're at Marathon, ate a delicious dinner at Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Grill, and settled into our wonderful rooms at the Coconut Cay Resort & Marina for the night! I was part of the later team of runners, so our day started at 7am, but the first group of runners had already completed a couple legs of the run by the time the sun was up! We all ended up running at least 11 miles today and we're all so very sleepy after doing it but we had a great day together as a team nonetheless. :) It's such a great feeling to be doing this run, and I think all of our runners would absolutely agree. Multiple times throughout the day today we ran past road kill going down Krome and Sound Card road and it really did give us a sense of what a big problem our wildlife is facing. We got to see countless alligators, turtles, and birds while we were running, sightseeing was half the fun of running! And now that we're in the Keys, there's so much more to look at! We have all enjoyed our time running down Overseas Highway tremendously, but we are very excited to get to Key West today!

The Wild, The Fund, and Dr. Kelly

It's an absolutely gorgeous day riding over to Key Largo. Our route has us going down Card Sound road instead of US1, which is a lot less traffic and definitely more scenic. These guys have been running next to birds and snakes (all nice, no accidents!) and still a good amount of road kill.
Running through these amazing wild places really gives us more insight to what these animals go through. And it makes us happy to know that the organization that we are donating to, The Conservation Fund, really has the animals' best interests in mind. They are working to conserve the habitat that they live in, and just recently they completed a project to save 650 acres of prime panther habitat. This give the panthers way more territory to roam in, which means less chance of them getting hit by a car. We are so happy to be working with them for T4T!!
Attached below is a video from yesterday (too many videos for our Run Manager to handle! Haha), with Dr. Kelly after his run and a special thank you to Erin Smith. Stay with us to keep updated!

Fun on a Run

It's 6:55. It's winter break. I just ran two miles. I know what you're thinking: why?
Why would you want to run a 600 mile relay to raise funds and awareness towards, the increasingly endangered Florida panther population? I don't know. I also don't know how any animal, not just panthers, could possibly survive from the way we encroach on their habitats. I don't see a panther or a gator or a snake being able to cross some of the roads I've had to run through. That's my biggest motivation, because it's not fair. Not fair to the bordering-on-100 panther population. So don't forget to visit us, check us out and support us online at www.indiegogo.com/t4tails! Share our story!

Day 3!

It's 6 AM on Monday, December 17th, and our runners are already awake and out there running! Well, half of them are. We're trying something a little new today, with half of the group starting the run now (We're the A-TEAM!), and then Team B will meet us around 9 AM. That way this group can go to sleep a little earlier, and the other team could sleep in a bit. Can't run well if you don't sleep well!
Took lots of videos yesterday, too many to put up in one day while running! Here's one where Santiago tells us about some of the things he saw on the run, good and bad.