JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Running one marathon is a big challenge, but a Jacksonville attorney is preparing to run seven marathons in seven days across all seven continents, all to help families with sick or injured children.<\/p>\n
Mike Freed, a 58-year-old attorney with the Gunster law firm in Jacksonville, is participating in the Great World Race to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Freed and Megan Weinstein, a representative from Ronald McDonald House Jacksonville, spoke with Kristine Bellino on In Depth about the upcoming challenge and how the community can help.<\/p>\n
Seven marathons, seven continents<\/p>\n
Freed will travel to Cape Town, South Africa, on November 12 before beginning his journey.<\/p>\n
He will join 64 other runners from around the world to complete seven marathons, each covering 26.2 miles.<\/p>\n
The first race will take place in Antarctica. From there, runners will travel to South Africa, Australia, Singapore, Portugal, Colombia and finally Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n
The final race is scheduled for November 21.<\/p>\n
Freed said he enjoys long-distance running, but this challenge is about more than reaching the finish line.<\/p>\n
He wants to raise money and awareness for families staying at Ronald McDonald House Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ronald McDonald House, Jacksonville is just a great place that does amazing things with limited resources for families when they\u2019re going through their most difficult circumstances,\u201d Freed said.<\/p>\n
Running for a good cause<\/p>\n
Freed has been participating in long-distance running events for about 10 years.<\/p>\n
He first started running after deciding he wanted to help people in need. One of his earliest challenges was running from Tallahassee to Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Since then, his annual fundraising event, Freed to Run, has raised approximately $3.5 million to help children who need medical care and seniors facing housing insecurity.<\/p>\n
Freed has also completed a 100-mile run in the Florida Keys.<\/p>\n
Despite his experience, he knows running seven marathons in seven days will not be easy.<\/p>\n
He said the challenge is just as much mental as it is physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to be breaking any speed records,\u201d Freed said.<\/p>\n
His main goal is to finish the races while raising as much money as possible for the organization.<\/p>\n
Helping families during difficult times<\/p>\n
Ronald McDonald House Jacksonville provides free housing, meals and transportation to families whose children are receiving medical treatment.<\/p>\n
Weinstein explained that families can stay at the house for weeks, months or even a year, depending on their child\u2019s medical needs.<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville location has 53 rooms and serves approximately 9,000 families every year, according to Weinstein.<\/p>\n
The organization also provides meals to families at Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital who do not want to leave their child\u2019s bedside.<\/p>\n
Weinstein said the goal is to make families feel comfortable and supported during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.<\/p>\n
She also explained that donations help provide everyday necessities, including cleaning supplies, pillowcases and other household items.<\/p>\n
While toys are always appreciated, the organization also needs basic supplies to keep the house running.<\/p>\n
How Jacksonville can help<\/p>\n
Community members can support Freed\u2019s challenge through a fundraising effort called Miles for Hope.<\/p>\n
According to Weinstein, donations made through Miles for Hope go directly toward operating Ronald McDonald House Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
People can also follow Freed\u2019s journey through the organization\u2019s social media accounts and his Freed to Run pages on Instagram and Facebook.<\/p>\n
The organization will share updates throughout the challenge, including his progress across each continent.<\/p>\n
Ronald McDonald House Jacksonville is also preparing for its annual 5K event on November 14.<\/p>\n
The nighttime event will help kick off the holiday season with activities for children, a block party and holiday lights at the house.<\/p>\n
Those interested in donating, volunteering, participating in the 5K or scheduling a tour can visit the Ronald McDonald House Jacksonville website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Freed hopes his journey will encourage more people to support the families who depend on the organization.<\/p>\n \u25b6 Listen to Jacksonville\u2019s Morning News Interviews<\/a><\/p>\n [\u00a0Read more local news from WOKV<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and traffic app. And click here<\/a> to subscribe to our daily 3 Big Things newsletter.<\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Running one marathon is a big challenge, but a Jacksonville attorney is preparing to run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[794,28,172686,141673,116,172685,156922,172689,118,117,164960,148534,172691,172684,172688,172690,132602,172687,3021],"class_list":["post-442930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-duval","tag-florida","tag-great-world-race","tag-in-depth","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-attorney","tag-jacksonville-charity","tag-jacksonville-fundraising-events","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jmn","tag-kristine-bellino","tag-megan-weinstein","tag-mike-freed","tag-miles-for-hope","tag-ronald-mcdonald-house-5k","tag-ronald-mcdonald-house-jacksonville","tag-seven-marathons-seven-continents","tag-wokv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}