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The accident changed Lisa Nash's life and motivated her to create a nonprofit that brings safe drinking water to impoverished countries around the world.
This weekend, a group of runners is taking part in the San Francisco Marathon, as part of Nash's run for water team.
Nash created blue planet run after the accident in August of 2005. She was walking on Kearny Street when the sidewalk exploded underneath her.
"I was essentially blown up in downtown San Francisco," Nash said. "I went through two years of rehabilitation and long hospitalization and I got out of that and I decided there was no time like the present and I didn't want to waste a minute."
It dawned on Nash that with 25 years of experience in corporate marketing, she could put her skills to good use. And with that, the Blue Planet Run foundation was born.
"There are 2 million people that are killed every year because of safe drinking water diseases and 90 percent of them are children under five," Nash said.
Sunday's marathon is a reunion of sorts for people who have participated in previous Blue Planet Run marathons. Some have even come from other countries to run for this cause.
"If us getting together for this San Francisco Marathon, having a little reunion for the SF Marathon if that can raise a few dollars, save a few lives, then it's all worth," Scotland native Paul Rogan said.
"It's not charity, it's giving people what they need to help themselves," Nash said.
The goal of Blue Planet Run is to provide safe drinking water to 200 million people by 2027.
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