One week!

I can't believe the day is almost here-I have one week until the California International Marathon! I am really excited to complete this challenge and truly appreciate all the support and encouragement you have given me. I have about 6 people ready to run alongside me during different parts of the marathon and I'm looking forward to sharing this experience with my friends.

The Death of Me

Not very many people can say they know the day they will die...I have a sneaking suspicion I may know the day and even a time range...December 6, 2009 between the hours of 7:00am and 11:15am. These are the hours in which I will be running my first marathon. Okay, now I don't really think it will be the death of me but it might bring me closer. Training has been taking up a lot of my "free time" which was already hard to come by. I have enjoyed the challenge and I am looking forward to the actual race but I can also say that I can't wait for it to be over! This whole thing started from a challenge at a summer conference called CIY and now in just a few weeks I will be completing the challenge! All the money I raise for the run will be going to bring clean water to a community in Malawi, Africa through playpumps international. Please read my support letter and pray about supporting playpumps either through my marathon or through their website. I have included my support letter in this post and ask that you would consider supporting the children in Malawi.

I hope this letter finds you well and getting ready for the quickly approaching holiday season! I can’t believe it is already November - I feel like I just returned from India! This year has been great as I graduated school last December, and was then offered a job at our church as the student ministries coordinator - Matt is now my boss! It is working out really well and I think we make a great team. I can’t imagine doing anything else right now.

This summer we took 150 high school students to a conference in Southern California where everyone was given a challenge card, which contained one of many possible challenges. A group of 4 junior girls and myself decided to open our cards together so that we could keep each other accountable for our challenges. I was the last one to open my card and on it reads, “26.2- commit to being healthier. Train and run a marathon before next summer.” While I have always been active, I have never been a long distance runner by any means! I have already started my training and actually ran a half marathon in preparation for my full marathon on December 6.

I have decided to raise support for my marathon and donate all proceeds to PlayPumps International. This organization supports a cause that has really been on my heart - providing clean water for communities that do not have access. 1.1 billion people in our world do not have access to clean drinking water, which leads to premature deaths. Every 15 seconds a child dies of a preventable disease related to unsafe water. In addition, in many communities, young girls walk an average of 5 miles a day to get this unsanitary water, which results in the girls not being able to attend school.

PlayPumps International installs wells in areas that don’t have access to clean water. These wells are attached to a merry-go-round, and every time kids spin the merry-go-round, water is pumped from the ground. Not only does this system provide clean drinking water, but it also provides a place for little kids to play. PlayPumps also hires local men to maintain the system. In addition, girls get the opportunity to attend school because they don’t have to walk for hours a day to get water.

I would love for you to join me in bringing awareness to this cause and this organization. I also ask that you would consider sponsoring me as I run 26.2 miles to bring awareness. All the support raised will go towards a PlayPump in Malawi, Africa. My goal is to raise $2500. If you are able to support this challenge of mine, you can make checks payable to PlayPumps International. Thank you for always supporting me in my adventures! This is by far the most challenging for me, so I ask that you keep me in your thoughts and prayers-especially as December 6 gets closer.

With love and appreciation,
Heather

I would also like to add-I was not the only one who received a challenge at CIY and by the time I cross the finish line one of our students will have memorized the first chapter of Ephesians...on his way to memorizing the whole book by July 2010! Go Taylor!

1/2 Marathon down...

I ran my first official 1/2 marathon race and boy was it exhilarating! I'll tell ya-sometimes it is difficult to go out and run 15 miles around town but I had a lot of fun at the race. There were thousands of other people there walking and running, bands every couple miles and lots of people lining the streets to cheer for people. My official finishing time was 2:08:15 which is quite a bit faster than my training pace so I am excited about that! When running for over two hours straight there are lots of interesting thoughts that pop into my head and I sort of wished I had brought my cell phone along so I could Tweet updates.

Since I didn't think ahead to bring my phone I will recap some of those thoughts here:

Mile 1: Are you kidding me...why is it so stinkin' cold?! (We started at 7:30am)

Mile 3: Are you kidding me-it's only been 3 miles?!

Mile 5: Oh yeah! I can do this...who chose that band? They are terrible!
Mile 5.5: Just saw a girl with a shirt that said "I'd rather be at church"-laughed to myself then pondered whether that was because she really enjoyed church or because she really hated running.

Mile 6: Got passed by some kids that looked all of 11 years old and realized I'm not even 1/2 way finished.

Mile 7: Took some Cytomax from the volunteers handing it out at the hydration station, spilled it all over myself...great, now I'm sticky.

Mile 8: I think the guy in front of me pooped his pants...I've heard of that in the Olympics and the Boston Marathon but come on...this is the Cow Town 1/2 marathon...take a few to use the porta-potties!

Mile 10: If someone offered me $100 to chop my foot off I would consider...my left foot is hurting so bad, ow...ow...ow. Dang it, an old man just passed me.

Mile 13: this is by far the longest mile ever...is this some sick joke?!

Mile 13.1: How am I going to do double that in a couple months?!!

I actually really enjoyed the whole race atmosphere and also like my cowbell finishing medal! I'm really glad I did the 1/2 and will consider carrying my phone with me for the full-if not to Twitter at least for use in case I need someone to pick me up and drive me to the finish line :-)

"Kids these days"

I'm always a little frustrated when I hear people talking about "kids these days" because they can have such a negative view of today's youth. I happen to love junior high and high school students and while I realize they can be a little noisy and energetic at times (or all the time) they are kids and they have some of the most amazing hearts that I have ever seen. As a youth group we have a goal to raise $5,000 to put towards a playpump Last night at Impact (our junior high service) I was standing by the information table which also has our Well Project donation box on it when I saw a group of seventh grade girls walk up with wide grins and fists of waded up money. They began stuffing the money into the donation box so I asked them if they had been saving up their allowance and they proceeded to tell me that they had been setting up a lemonade stand to raise money for the well. How amazing! These girls spent hours of their weekends in the 100+ degree heat to raise money to provide people they will never meet with clean drinking water. "Kids these days" have hearts for things far greater than themselves and want to make an impact in the world like we have never seen...sometimes they just need a little direction and guidance on where to spend their energy and creativity. "Kids these days" have more faith in our Savior than most adults I have encountered and more dedication to learn more about Him. "Kids these days" have a heart to serve the people that "adults these days" don't. Encourage the kids of these days and just see what happens!

26.2 and play pumps

Okay, so I am about 4 weeks into my marathon training and feeling pretty good...a little tired but good! This past Friday I ran 13 miles as part of my training and while I could not run another mile I wasn't feeling too incredibly bad. I was right on for my 10 minute mile pace. December 6 is my marathon date and I just pray that it doesn't rain. I don't mind the cold-it will be better than the 95 degrees now but I can't take the rain!

So, what am I running for? Other than to prove to our students that you can do anything you put your mind to and that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Phil. 4:13) I am running to raise money for a project that has really been on my heart.

There are 1.1 billion people in the world who do not have access to clean drinking water.

Young girls have to walk an average of 5 miles a day to get water, carrying up to 40 pounds of water.

The water they get is often contaminated.

These young girls cannot go to school because they have to get the water every day.

Every 15 seconds a child dies of a preventable disease related to unsafe water…every 15 seconds…that is 5,760 kids every day…that’s over 172 thousand every month!

The organization I am running for is PlayPumps International. PlayPumps is an amazing organization that installs some really cool water pumps in Africa. These aren't your ordinary pumps-these ones are connected to a merry-go-round that kids can play on. Each spin of the merry-go-round pumps water into an above ground, sanitary holding tank that the community can pump water from. PlayPumps also hires local men to install and maintain the pumps and guarantees them a job for at least 10 years. These pumps not only provide safe, clean drinking water for a community but the pumps offer an opportunity for girls to go to school to get an education, for men to get local jobs to earn money to support their family, play equipment for kids to enjoy and of course clean water to cut down the amount of deaths caused by contaminated water.

I tell you about this organization so you can spread the awareness and check out the organization for yourself. A little goes a long way and clean water is something that every person should be able to enjoy.

Check out the website www.playpumps.org to get ideas on how you can support a playpump in Africa!

Kids Play. Water Pumps.

CIY

A few weeks ago we had the great opportunity of taking 150 people (high school students and adults) to a Christ in Youth (CIY) conference in Southern California. CIY is an incredible organization that hosts conferences all over the US and even overseas. They bring in great bands and gifted speakers and have great programs designed to inspire and challenge high school students.

Here are some of the highlights from the conference:

2 girls from our group committed their lives to Christ for the first time.
6 students were baptized in the ocean.
Dozens of students committed to serving in full time ministry.
Dozens of students committed to serving in missions.

At the end of the week CIY handed out a sealed envelope to everyone and explained that what was inside was a challenge that was to be completed within the year. The CIY director explained that it should only be opened if you were completely serious about finishing the task that was inside the envelope. A few of us decided that we would open the cards together and that we would support and encourage each other in whatever task we opened. I'll tell you my challenge in a minute. A lot of our students decided to open the cards and we are very excited to see how God uses the tasks. Some of our students were challenged to take an overseas mission trip within a year, provide breakfast for the teachers at their school every month, fast one day a week for a whole year, raise $2000 to pay for 10 students to attend the conference next year and one of my favorites...do something nice and unexpected for your youth pastor once a month for a year. There are lots of others but those are the ones I can remember right now.

So, here we go...the card I opened said that I need to train and run a marathon within a year to raise money for a clean water organization! I'm actually really excited about it and have already started training. My marathon date is December 6...26.2 miles here I come! I have decided to raise money for playpumps.org and will explain more about that ministry later.

All in all, CIY was a great week-lots of awesome conversations and decisions and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Any running tips?

Kiva

Okay, I have a lot to write about from CIY and Amplify but first I need to tell you about this organization I just heard about- Kiva. Kiva is a micro-lending organization that allows you to lend money to an entrepreneur either in another country (and a few in the US). These entrepreneurs are working people living in poverty that want to start up a business or make a repair on their existing business in order to support their families. They aren't looking for handouts, they just need a little financial assistance to get things up and running. The lowest amount you can lend is $25.00 but it is a loan-the entrepreneur pays you back-and then you can loan to another entrepreneur! You even get to see a picture of the person you are lending to, read a little bit about them and you can pick what industry you want to support...health, agriculture, transportation, clothing, etc. Go check it out while you wait for my stories of our summer camps!