Lincoln man plans to pet dogs during half marathon for a good cause

A Lincoln man is preparing for a half marathon but it’s not your average race, this one will include tons of dogs.

“I actually saw a dog on the side of the course that was jumping and trying to get at me and I ran over and asked the owner if I could pet the dog and she said yes so I pet the dog, it was a nice break and it was nice to pet a dog so I decided that I am going to do that for the rest of the race and then I pet 88 dogs,” Mark Geist said.

Geist pet all of those dogs last year during Lincoln’s half marathon. As he prepares for the race again on Sunday, he will be petting dogs again but this time there will be a purpose.

“I decided that the one cause that’s probably nearest and dearest to my heart is the camp that I serve at so I should try some way to incorporate that into my run so I decided, what better way than petting dogs,” Geist said.

For 17 years, Geist has been working with ‘The Royal Family Kids Camp.’ It’s a volunteer driven program for abused and neglected kids, who are primarily from the foster care system.

“We had a girl last year that was sold into sex trafficking by her parents twice and she was seven,” Geist said. “I mean there is so much evil in the world, I can’t comprehend that as an adult much less a 7-year-old girl.”

Geist says the camp has been life changing for the kids.

His goal is to pet 200 dogs on Sunday. People can pledge to give a set amount for every dog he pets or just a flat amount if they want to support this cause.

Geist is hoping he can raise enough money to pay for 5 campers, each one costs around $600.

“If it could get one kid to camp at all, I would run a half marathon every month,” Geist said. “I would run all the time.”

If you are interested in pledging, click here.

If you are interested in donating a flat amount to the camp, click here.