Half-Marathon Week is Here!

As of 8:31pm CST, it is 3 days, 15 hours and 29 minutes away from the start of the Minneapolis Half Marathon!!

I can't believe it is so close.  I feel about as ready as I can be.  I am prepared for a very slow race, which is fine by me.  Moving 244 pounds over 13.1 miles is an accomplishment at any speed as far as I'm concerned.  My realistic goal is 3:10:00, my BHAG is 2:59:59 (I'd really love to finish with a 2 at the front, but that more than likely won't happen).  My 13 mile training run took me about 3:13, and I took it very slow that day and walked more than I probably needed to.  I do have to remember that my main goal is just to finish, so if I don't meet any of my time goals, I will still consider it a success.

We drove the route on Friday evening.  There is a pretty decent hill in the first mile, but the rest is mostly flat and the finish is probably 3/4 mile down hill.  I will roll if I have to ;-)

I did my last long-ish run on Sunday (5 miles) and a 30 minute run last night and I'll do another 30 minute run tomorrow and then I'll be resting up on Friday and Saturday.  

The forecast looks pretty awesome as of right now.

Before I get to run on Sunday, all three of my kiddos are going to be participating in a run of their own!  Even little Oskar :-)

They are running in the 3rd Annual Healing Haiti Kids Fun Run.  Healing Haiti is a great organization run out of St. Paul.  I've had many friends partner with them on short-term mission trips and I hope to take one with them sometime in the near future.  Here is a bit more information about who they are taken straight from an e-mail I received

Healing Haiti is a 501(c)3 faith-based organization dedicated to serving the poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged in Haiti with ministries currently located in Port-au-Prince, Cite Soleil and Titanyen.  Healing Haiti is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.  It is a 100% volunteer organization in the United States.  Healing Haiti’s only paid staff is the Haitians that live and work in Haiti.  This model allows us to be extremely efficient in managing our resources demonstrated by the fact that over 96% of every dollar that comes into this ministry makes it to the mission in Haiti.

 

My kiddos, specifically Rory, are wondering if any of you readers out there might be willing to sponsor her in the race.  You can either make a flat donation by going here, or you can contact me at growinginfaithshrinkinginsize (at) gmail (dot) com (I type it out funny like that so no spam goes there) and agree to donate a specific amount for each lap she runs (each lap is 1/8 of a mile) and then I'll contact you after the race with the details on how many she ran and how to give.  For example, you can pledge $1 a lap, and if she runs 4 laps, your total donation would be $4.  My girl isn't the most athletic, so I really wouldn't plan on her running any more than 4 laps.

By sponsoring Rory, you would be helping to pay for a social worker at Grace Village (an orphanage) who will provide care for children rescued from slavery.  Your donation will help a child who once had no hope for their future thrive spiritually, academically, socially and physically.

Rory wanted me to share this special message with all of you about why she is running. 

She doesn't quite understand the slave/social worker piece yet, but she has learned a lot about kiddos in Haiti and how sometimes their mom's make them mud pies because sometimes they don't have food to eat but the mud fills their stomach.  So when we talk about Haiti, that is what she thinks of.

Please help these kiddos make a difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Haiti!  They might be small, but they get it and they want to share the love!