Have you ever trained for a race? You know—you sign up for a big race, immediately feel giddy and you start to anticipate what it will be like when you cross that finish line. You’ll probably pat yourself on the back (metaphorically speaking, of course—unless you have a friend to help you out) and you’ll smile with pride because you’ve done something that you probably never thought you could. With two half-marathons under my belt and a third one in the works, I know that feeling all too well.

There’s this hard-to-explain thrill about it all. The months of painstaking training leading up to it, waking up early to do your long runs and dreading the thought of doing speed work after a long day at work. Then race day is upon you and suddenly all you can think is “Finish strong. No matter what happens—just finish strong.”

So what does this all have to do with LACO? Well, we’re in the “just finish strong” phase of a marathon giving campaign—#LACO205. Back in September, LACOchallenged you, our family and friends, to donate every day for the length of our concert season. We asked you to keep the streak alive and any donation, no matter the size, made all the difference. Summer is now upon us and we’re nearing the end of #LACO205 but there’s still time to give. There’s still time to help us finish strong! Much like marathon training, you can’t move on to the next big training run until you’ve nailed every training session along the way. Here at LACO we can’t move on to next season until we’ve reached all of our goals for this season. There’s a certain excitement in knowing that through your support we’ve been able to keep the giving streak alive and there’s certainly a buzz about the office in knowing that we’re rounding the last corner of this marathon giving campaign.

Just like we did for every month of #LACO205, this month’s giving comes with a special LACO treat. A donation of any size made online before June 30 gets you access to a Jeffrey Kahane/John Adams podcast from LACO’s vault. In the podcast, you’ll hear a little bit about Shaker Loops which you’ll get to see in the 2014-15 season.

Give your gift online today and join us next season to see firsthand how your generosity helps LACO. Let’s rally together and finish strong!