The Mental Marathon

About Me

My name is Jack Goldman and I'm a freshman student-athlete at Oakwood Secondary School in North Hollywood, California. At the start of seventh grade, I began to feel immense anxiety regarding school, sports, family, and friends. I had experienced brief moments of stress earlier in my life, but it was nothing like this. It became so debilitating that I found it impossible to complete the simplest day-to-day tasks. With the help of my family, I was fortunate enough to be able to receive excellent mental health services from experts in the field. I was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and with a lot of self-care and the tools I learned in therapy, I am once again able to live a full and functional life.

I realize that not everyone is fortunate enough to have the same kind of access to mental health care that I do. That’s why I’ve decided to take my passion for running and use it to help raise money for Didi Hirsch Mental Health, which provides services to underserved adolescents and families.

For the last few months, I have been training for my first marathon—the San Diego Marathon on June 2, 2024. It hasn’t always been easy. There are some mornings that I don’t want to get up out of my warm, comfortable bed and go for a 20-mile run. But I think of people like me, and I want to be able to do my part to help make their lives a little bit easier.

Please support me by donating to Didi Hirsch so we can improve mental health one step at a time.