Ready to take on the Philadelphia Marathon.

December 27, 2007. Bel Air, MD. When Geri Bishop decided to train for the grueling 26.2 mile Philadelphia Marathon, she knew she wanted to do it for a worthy cause. But when she saw that an organization she had previously wanted to sponsor was in full support of embryonic stem cell research, she began looking for another group to benefit.

The idea to support the Legionaries came through her daughter’s involvement in the Challenge Club.

On one of her “long runs,” while thinking about the sorry state of her third consecutive pair of running shoes, she remembered one of her daughter’s Challenge Club’s apostolic activities: a rosary walk for vocations called “Soles for Souls.” The Challenge girls had laced up their sneakers to walk a university campus while praying for seminarians.

The idea stuck, and she dubbed her fundraising sponsorship campaign: “Bishop’s Soles for Souls.” Her goal: to raise $1,000 for young

	Geri and her husband doing the Rocky Balboa victory pose after the race

aspirants to the priesthood in the Legion of Christ.

When race day came along on November 18, Geri offered up 5.5 hours of continuous running through rain and cold along with a substantial gift (well over $1,000) for the Legion of Christ.