Do you need to do good to feel good?

Thousands of Irish women will run this summer to raise money for charity. Many of them will have never run before but the motivation of raising money will get them out on the streets. I asked a friend on Sunday which charity she was supporting in her first marathon-relay, she looked at me askance and said "Nothing, I'm running for myself."

I should have hugged her, but I was so surprised to hear someone being this honest and respectful of themselves, I just smiled and carried on talking about carbs. Why do so many women need a charity to justify giving time to running? And to being healthy. 

It's something charity fundraisers like Australian Annie Crawford of Can-Too have used; a lot of women   (yes, I am generalising here) are not comfortable saying I want to run, I want to be strong, I want to have time to be with my friends which does not involve shopping or alcohol. In Dublin 40, 057 women ran in the women's mini-marathon this week, the headline in one of the papers was "Sprains and blisters but all for a good cause."

Why couldn't the good cause be just wanting to run? And before you say it, I know lots of men run for charity too but it seems to me that watching women's events, there is a far higher percentage of charity Tees and banners than there would be if it were all men.
I don't think it's a bad thing to raise money, it would just be great if women were able to stand proud and say I did this for me.

What do you think - do women really need that extra Do-Good factor to Feel Good?