Have you ever delayed the completion of a project, saying that you’ll do it another day, only to find that years have gone by and the project still is incomplete?

In Jan. 2001, Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune created an organization, the Someday Is Now society (SIN), to motivate and encourage people to finish things that they begin.

The idea behind the society is for people to create realistic one-year goals to reach by doing a small amount each day.

DeKalb resident Ann Carlson wrote a letter to Zorn, describing to him what her goal was, in hopes of becoming a member of SIN.

“My goal is to organize an annual Volkslauf in DeKalb,” she said.

Volkslauf literally translates into “people’s run.” It is a non-traditional 10-kilometer run that requires participants to tackle numerous natural obstacles such as mud, hills and bodies of water.

Carlson got the idea when she heard about different Marine-organized mud runs that took place in California, and always encouraged civilian participation.

Much to Carlson’s delight, she was named one of the 100 yearly members of SIN for this year. She hopes that it will help her accomplish her goal by having it publicly monitored.

“[Eric] wants people to take in stock what they don’t do,” Carlson said. “It’s so people will get kicked into doing stuff today rather than putting it off.”

Carlson’s goal quickly is becoming a reality, as she has begun course planning with David Emanuelson, executive park district director.

“The course will tentatively begin at the recreation center on Fourth Street, go through Hopkins Park, and come back up and around to the recreation center,” she said.

Carlson said water will be added to the retention pond in front of the recreation center to create mud. She added there’s a possibility that participants will cross through the Kishwaukee River, depending on how high the water level is.

Carlson hopes different organizations will take the initiative to handle and run the event each year. She said that from there, the proceeds would benefit their organization.

“Nobody has sponsored it yet,” Carlson said. “We’re going to be looking for sponsors, and that’s going to be part of our first meeting.”

Anyone interested in this event is encouraged to attend the first meeting for the annual Volkslauf, which will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St., Room 212.

“We’ll be addressing issues like entrance fees, sponsors and the design of the course,” Carlson said.

Carlson made sure to explain that anyone can participate in this event.

“I’m hoping that we can get around 100 participants,” she said. “The hope is for this event to be a team event, though individual participants will be accepted.”

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this event, call Carlson at 748-2749. For more information about SIN, visit www.ericzorn.com/sin.