Running With (A) Purpose

The New York City Marathon was raced Sunday (November 1) and many of the runners made the 26.2-mile challenge a cause for a cause.

Among the celebrity runners were Fight Club star Edward Norton and Alanis Morissette who joined a group of Maasai warriors in order to raise awareness of the importance of wildlife conservation. The charity they ran for was the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

Here's what Norton had to say about the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust to the Canadian Press: 

The wildlife from that part of the world is in a lot of ways the wildlife of our childhood imaginations. I think for a lot of people, it's horrifying to imagine having to say to their kids or grandkids that these things used to exist and now they're gone. Most people aren't aware of how possible that is, that lions would actually disappear.

And here's Edward Norton on why he decided to run for wildlife (he finished in 3 hours 48 minutes).

Another celeb seen running the race was Anthony Edwards of ER fame. His cause was Shoe4Africa, a nonprofit organization that was founded with the goal of giving shoes to barefoot children in Kenya. Since its inception, it has expanded its goal and is now raising funds to build a pediatric hospital.

Here's Edwards talking about Shoe4Africa:

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But the stars weren't the only ones running for a cause. Ollie Leber of Loyalsock Township, Pennsylvania ran the marathon for the American Cancer Society. His mother is a cancer survivor, while his sister is currently undergoing treatment. Other members of his family have battled or died from the disease, as well.

"I'm really excited," he said, in an article in the Sun Gazette. "We hope to make a difference and raise lots of money for it (cancer)."

Check out the New York Marathon's website for full coverage of the race.