On September 8, 2020, Lieutenant Colonel Shelli Huether and two fellow Tennessee Air National Guard members (Captain Jessica Wright and Senior Master Sargent Scott Bumpus) were involved in a fatal plane crash near the Warren County Memorial Airport in McMinnville, TN.  Their current assignment was with the 118th Wing in Nashville, TN which specializes in Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR).

Shelli is a dear friend of mine and while on this earth, she had a servant’s heart and spent countless hours volunteering with the USO, Operation Stand Down, and many other charities and non-profit organizations.  She also loved to run and pushed herself hard…always setting new running goals to accomplish. It’s one of the reasons why we became such great friends.

My goal with setting up this race, is to honor my amazing friend…while raising money for a couple of different charities in her name.  Around half of the registration fee will be able to go directly to the charities (the other half covers the expenses). But we would also be grateful if you wanted to donate more and also share this fundraiser with others who might donate (even if they don’t participate in the race.)  You/they can donate HERE. 

Read below, under the “Race Info” section for more info about the race and the charities that we will be donating the money too. But I’d love to just encourage you…to push yourself and do something you’ve never done before. It’s believing in ourselves that we can…that we actually do. Do this for yourself…and do this in honor of an amazing American hero.

Anita Daneker
Race Director (and a great friend of Shelli’s)

REGISTER: https://shellihuetherhonorrun.com/register-to-run-walk/

LOCATION: This is a VIRTUAL race, which means that you can do this wherever you are.  You can run/walk outside in your own neighborhood or even use a treadmill!

FEE: $75.00 (includes t-shirt and medal for all…but, there is a special “100” medal for anyone who runs/walks 100 or more miles in the 55 hours)

The race will take place from Saturday, November 21st at 7am CST to Monday, November 23rd at 2pm CST. The goal is to run/walk as many miles as you can in the 55 hours. Challenge yourself. Do an amount that’s more than you’ve ever done before. That’s what Shelli would have done. If you’re new to running/walking, and doing more than a couple of miles at a time is hard, then challenge yourself to do those couple of miles a handful of different times throughout the 55 hours. If you’re an experienced runner, and you’ve run marathons and ultras, then challenge yourself to 100 or more miles in the 55 hours. Setup camp in your front yard, so you can run through the night in your neighborhood!

For signing up and completing your miles, you will receive a t-shirt and medal.  After the race, we will mail them to you. To receive the medal, you will need to submit your miles at the end of the race to show that you did take place in the race. (More info on how to submit your miles will come later.) There will be a special medal for anyone who runs/walks 100 miles or more.

We will be DONATING all money raised (minus the expenses) to two charities:

(1) USO: Shelli worked in the Nashville BNA location of the USO all of the time. Caring for other military members was Shelli’s passion.  She fought for Airman all the way to Generals.

(2) Lantern Lane Farm in Mt. Juliet, TN: This is a beautiful counseling center located on a ranch with horses that specializes in grief counseling.  Money raised will be sent here in honor of all 3 airman that were killed in the plane crash…for their families to go through the grief counseling program. There are 3 spouses and 5 children total.