Photo By: Holly Anderson Photography
Santa Barbara, California – June, 2016
rabbit is hosting Reed Kotalik in Santa Barbara, CA this weekend for the annual HOKA ONE ONE State Street Mile, which is held Sunday, June 5th. Reed is a 6 year old from The Woodlands, Texas. In November of 2014, he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.
During the same month that Reed was diagnosed, he asked his mom to sign him up for a local road race and he took to the line with hundreds of others. He surprised his family when he placed 3rd. Since then, Reed has stepped up to 19 National podiums, 5 of those were for Gold Medals. Reed is currently focused on quadruple qualifying for the Junior Olympics as he aims for more gold.
One thing that new changes, is Reed’s determination to get up and get going! Many of the athletes who stand at a start line of a black oval, trail, or road race with Reed have no idea that he has cerebral palsy. In 2016, Reed decided to use his national platforms to bring awareness and raise monies for deserving causes: Head for the Cure (Brain Cancer), CASA (Foster Children), Make Lemon Aide for Cerebral Palsy, and The Will Herndon Fun for Juvenile Batten.
rabbit Co-Founder Jill Deering says, “we are thrilled to have Reed be a part of this epic weekend of fast running in Santa Barbara, CA. Reed is such a special and determined child and we are so excited to see him fly down State Street. When rabbit was introduced to Reed we were immediately inspired by his story and wanted to do something special for Reed and invite him to our community so we could share his story around this special event.”
Reed’s PR in the mile is a blazing 6:07. We can’t wait to see how he performs on our very own State Street.
To learn more about Reed and his passion for running and helping others, visit Running with Reed on Facebook.
Also, Runners World wrote an inspiring article on Reed in March of 2016. You can read more here.
