Run Your Story Podcast · Allison Gaillard

Rhonda Hayden - "It's a passion that I've had for a long time."

·34 min·2 clips

Rocket City Marathon raised $150,000 for a Huntsville Hospital pediatric playground.

1. Run Your Story Podcast centers on Rhonda Hayden, Kinda Gritty, and the 50th-year Rocket City Marathon announcement. 2. Allison Gilliard hosts, Rhonda Hayden is the guest and Kinda Gritty founder, and both matter because they connect racing with fundraising. 3. The episode asks what Kinda Gritty is for: signature events that put “a purpose” behind the finish line. 4. Rhonda says her event-directing began with a PTO 5K for Sacred Heart School in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about 15 years ago. 5. She links that start to a background in fundraising for two nonprofits before she launched Kinda Gritty. 6. Rhonda says she wanted to do the work “on my own terms” and build events with fundraising components. 7. Allison describes Salute Red, White, and Blue at Camp Shelby as emotional because her father served at that base. 8. Rhonda says Camp Shelby asked Kinda Gritty to fundraise for its Youth Challenge program. 9. She notes that the race course runs through hills and finishes by running through two tanks. 10. Rhonda says Salute Red, White, and Blue is already set to return on November 7. 11. Rhonda says the Moulton Mohawk Niner takes place at Tom Lee’s Christmas tree farm. 12. She says the race medals are hand-blown glass made by Jeremy Tomley of Mohawk Steel and Glass. 13. Rhonda says the Moulton Mohawk Niner benefited Oak Grove High School’s cross-country team this year. 14. She recalls prior beneficiaries including a man who needed a prosthetic leg after cancer treatment and a cyclist hit by a car. 15. She also says extra profits from last year helped a Mississippi runner who needed kidney-transplant-related medical help. 16. Rhonda says Kinda Gritty wants people to stay after races for the finish-line party and the stories. 17. She and Allison describe Rocket City Marathon’s indoor finish line and its different feel in December Huntsville weather. 18. Rhonda says the 50th Rocket City Marathon wrote a $150,000 check to Huntsville Hospital for a therapeutic playground. 19. Listeners who like community-minded running events, local fundraising, and race-day details will fit this episode. 20. Listeners who want a pure training talk with little community focus may skip it.

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