Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Keep Calm and Love Running


Check out my cool new print - I love it!

Well it's been a fantastic week in my world of running and fundraising. After sending out a an email update, harassing people on facebook and tweeting about my cause I raised $728 in a 24 hour period! I love my friends and family, so very generous :) 

As great as that $728 is, there is still a way to go until I meet my fundraising minimum and you might be wondering what I plan to do about that. I still have at LEAST $1,477 to raise and have a few ideas up my sleeve to be able to reach that. 

The first is a garage sale this weekend! You can't underestimate the value of your junk to someone else, so John, his family and I are doing some serious de-cluttering and laying it all out for the public to come and rummage through. To make the shopping experience fun there will be cookies and pop and our friendly faces to enjoy - I hope lots of generous people come out! 

I also have a stall at a farmers market in September where I will be asking for donations from passers-by as they shop for yummy local produce.

Thirdly I am in the planning stages of a pub fundraiser night, I will keep you posted with the details and if anyone has any prizes that could be donated for the night please let me know! :D 

The fundraising is just one side of the coin for this challenge, there is also the small matter of running a marathon! As I sit here and write this with an achy knee and a huge blister on my toe, I am well aware of that! 


Last Sunday I broke a personal record, by running further than I have ever ran before, 14.5 miles ... in the pouring rain! Last week was also the start of hill training, an important aspect of preparing for a marathon in San Francisco i'm sure you'll agree. Check out the elevation gains! 


On Sunday we had to run about 6 miles to the hill up to UBC, which was about 1km long, run all the way up, wondering if it would ever end, then run back down, only to run right on up again! There were certainly times I wanted to walk, in fact I just wanted to lay down on the ground and curl up into a ball at times, but I powered on and did it! I'm stronger than I know, amazing things the body can do I tell you. Then it was a 6 mile run back to Granville Island - still in the rain! I was soaked - but I was proud!

I had my reservations about joining Team in Training, more specifically I had my reservations about raising over $4,000! I could have trained by myself and gone to San Francisco to run this race all by myself, I could be free of the pressure to raise that huge amount of money.
However at this stage in the training, as we conquer longer, harder distances each week I constantly think to myself how glad I am I signed up with TNT, how valuable the support of my fellow runners is. I certainly couldn't have made it up that hill without them ... twice. To be honest I would probably be skipping my long runs on a regular basis because I'm pretty good at coming up with excuses for things like that. Team in Training keeps me accountable, it gives me a reason to run and my fellow runners support me - I would honestly recommend it to anyone. GO TEAM!

As always I'm looking for donations and if you have anything to give, no matter how big all small, mosey on over to my fundraising page to put some money down and bring my target closer and closer. CLICK HERE TO SPONSOR ME

1 comment:

  1. AH! i was wandering about the internet looking for a keep calm and love running poster and i came across this! where did you get it?! id love to get one!

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