Sunday, June 16, 2013

Every Runner Has a Reason

I am proud to announce that I am running in the New York City Marathon on November 3, 2013! I am 19 weeks away from Marathon Sunday and I can not believe it is going to happen.

I have run 21 days straight here in Colorado on my running streak and I am not going to lie, this week is going to be the hardest ever to try to pull of as I am going to be on planes and buses and with 55 high school students on a massive road trip. But, we will see if I can do it. The reason I am running?

I have a few:
I went to high school on Staten Island in New York. I have always wanted to run the NYC Marathon. This year when it was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy and the devastation on Staten Island in particular, I really wanted to run. It became a passion of mine.

Then, I found out I could run in the marathon if I partnered with a charity. The charity buys race bibs and then you raise money for them. They organize a team and you get to run the race. The big problem is finding a charity you believe in and want to raise money for.

Many of you remember my friend Amy Patwa who passed away in January. She spoke about a charity called the Inheritance of Hope that sent her, her husband Adam and their daughter Charis on a retreat to the Magic Kingdom in May of last year. They did all kinds of great things and had a focused time to discuss her end of life, their plans and what the future would look like when she passed away. It turned out to be one of the last things that she was able to actively take part in. As she said just a few months later, "The timing of this was perfect. I couldn't walk around the Magic Kingdom now!"

It turns out, this charity raises their funds through runners. And now it is a a charity that I have become passionate about alongside Young Life.

They have a team of 8 runners that are training and raising funds nationwide for families with children that have a parent with a life-threatening illness. I am hoping to raise or exceed my goal of $5,000. This will be a joyful fundraiser that helps to create a legacy of hope within a family that is facing tremendous medical challenges.

Inheritance of Hope (www.InheritanceOfHope.org) helps young families who face the terminal illness of a parent build their legacies through Legacy Retreats: four day all-expenses-paid events where families come together to make memories, build a community of support, and gain tools to manage the challenges they face.  Inheritance of Hope also funds a $1,000 Legacy Scholarship for college-bound seniors living with a terminally ill parent and offers various other support services that address the deep needs of these families. 

The Inheritance of Hope helps to turn a difficult, awful circumstance into one that focuses on the hope that we have in Christ and provides counsel, support and love to families as they struggle to do that in the face of mountain medical bills, daily bad news from physicians and quite simply...trying to raise children. 

I am raising money to help send a family on retreat when they need it most. 
To provide hope and rest for them. 

This verse gives you good insight on the name of the charity: 
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." ~ 1 Peter 1:3-5

I know what it has meant for me and my family simply to come out to Colorado for a month and we aren't facing a major life illness. It has been such a blessing!

Would you help me to give a focused, retreat for a family through the Inheritance of Hope? 

This is my fundraising page if you would like to join in. Inheritance of Hope Fundraising Page

There are a LOT of weeks to go until the marathon. It would be so encouraging to have the fundraising taken care of and to know I am running for ALL OF YOU! 

I am running in the Asheville 1/2 Marathon on September 27 and then the New York City Marathon on November 3. WOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, you are,my daughter and yes, I am not totally objective but I know I could not be more proud of you and this commitment. I love you.