When it comes to raising money for animals, PETA loves to be creative. And that’s when our PETA Pack program often comes into play. The PETA Pack is a group of runners who participate in various races—from full marathons to 5Ks—in the name of animal liberation.

This year, six of our runners will take on the United Airlines NYC Half marathon on March 17. This 13.1-mile race will begin in Brooklyn, make its way over the historic Manhattan Bridge and up the FDR Drive, wind through Times Square (one of only two times it’s closed each year), and finish in Central Park.

Each of our vegan runners will raise funds for PETA causes close to their hearts. We’ll introduce you to one of our runners each week during the lead-up to the big race.

Meet Catie Cryar! A native Texan, she took on an inspiring PETA Pack challenge in 2019 when she ran four grueling half-marathons in just five weeks! Now she’s preparing for a new challenge—one that will call further attention to ending the abuse of animals in rodeos, where they suffer and die so that humans can play cowboy in cruel events like calf roping, bull riding, steer wrestling, and bronco riding.

Rodeos are inherently cruel events that should be relegated to the history books alongside railroad barons and saloon brawls. Cows and horses may be zapped with electric “hot shots” so that they’ll charge out of a chute, calves’ necks are twisted as they’re violently slammed to the ground, and horses are viciously spurred into bucking.

Want to help even more? Create your own PETA Pack fundraiser today!