In the last few years, I've become a regular runner. I'm no speed-demon, but I can put one foot in front of the other for as long as it takes to get the job (or the race) done.

After training for almost eight months, I ran my first marathon in October 2008 and I ran the same one - the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. - this fall.

Running has become such an essential part of who I am that I can't imagine not doing it. For me, going out for a run - taking that first deep breath of cool morning air, sliding into a steady pace and feeling my legs and lungs take over - brings as strong a feeling of contentment and relief as that first sip of an ice cold glass of water on a summer day. The people charity: water serves aren't asking for the luxury of that ice cold glass, they're just hoping for what we consider one of the most basic of human rights: access to fresh, clean water so that they can survive.

I'd like to be a part of helping bring that fresh water into their lives, so to commemorate my first year as a marathoner and the three marathons I've run, I'm raising money for charity: water and its amazing projects that help hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

You don't have to give away your life savings to have an impact: every dollar you give today is a year's supply of clean water for one person. If 200 people give $26.20 each - $1 for every mile I ran in my most recent marathon on Oct. 25th - my goal of raising $5,240 will be met, and 262 people will have access to clean water for the next 20 years.

Most of us wouldn't think twice about spending $26.20 - or even two or three times that - on books, a night out at the movies or dinner with friends. It's not an amount that makes much of a difference in our lives. For the communities charity: water works in, however, it can mean the difference between being healthy enough to work and being too ill to stand. So help me reach that goal, won't you? If we all reach out just a little, we can help put an entire community on the path to achieving its potential.