Team MSAA Champion Allie (Dee) Trela has been running and raising funds for MSAA for years, raising thousands of dollars for our free programs and services. For Allie, the runs are personal – she was diagnosed with MS herself just 5 years ago. Allie has been running with Team MSAA ever since. This year, she’s taking on the Walt Disney World ® Marathon Weekend’s greatest challenge – the Dopey Challenge, a 4-day, 48.6m run, in which participants double their running distance each day, with a half marathon (13.1mi) and full marathon (26.2mi) on the 3rd and fourth days.
“When I was diagnosed with MS 5 years ago, I was devastated” Allie says “Running gave me something positive to focus on while I was mentally struggling and a challenge to rise to each year. Since starting this journey, I have run hundreds of miles and done a number of race challenges and earned so many medals.” Allie credits her running career with helping her stay healthy since her MS diagnosis, citing new research that shows running raises what’s known as Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF), which has neuroprotective properties. “It turns out all this running may have allowed me to stay healthy as well!”
Since joining Team MSAA and beginning her running career several years ago, Allie has dreamed of taking on the Dopey Challenge. She intends to make this her last run for a while and is both nervous and excited to take on this tremendous challenge. As a runner with Team MSAA, Allie has raised over $10,000 to support our programs and services. Currently, with nearly 3 months left to fundraise, she is already more than halfway to her ambitious $5,000 fundraising goal for this January’s grueling Dopey Challenge. For this run, she has a unique fundraising strategy – she is allowing donors to “sponsor” and select songs for her running playlist. If you’d like to add a song to Allie’s playlist – or just support, her Dopey Challenge run – check out her fundraising page and make a gift today!
Thanks, Allie, for everything you do as a champion for Team MSAA!
