Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon

Woo Hoo....we all finished and did great! Such a blessing to have healthy and able bodies and be able to run for the children at Acres of Love.

Going To New Heights

Over the last couple of years I've decided to do some things I never thought I would do. One...run 1000 miles in 365 days. Two...hike Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 states. I'm over 500 miles into 1000 mile journey and on September 28th I set out to take on Whitney.
Before I left for the trip I packed my backpack with the usual stuff first aid kit, water, beanie, gloves. My heart pulled at me to pack two more things, a picture of my boys and a picture of the kids from Acres Bridges Forever Home. I nestled them safely in my pack just in case I needed the inspiration later.
Most people don't decide to summit Whitney in a day. Usually people get to a base camp spend the night and summit the next day. Obviously, my group wasn't like most people. We set out at 4am to start our ascent headlamps on and backpacks in tow. When the sun came up our surroundings were nothing short of amazing. 6 hours into our hike we were at Trail Camp elevation 12,000 feet. With only 2,500 feet or 4 miles left to go you would think it would be easy. At home running 4 miles would take less than 40 minutes. On Whitney with the elevation, terrain and 99 switchbacks it would take hours. I didn't realize the importance of those pictures in my pack until I started the last part of the ascent.
Me and my hiking partner Melanie pressed on through the switchbacks. That's where I shed a couple of tears riddled with self doubt. Every time I took a break and grabbed water or a snack from my pack I saw those pictures. When I would start to break down mentally I would think of my kids and the Acres kids. The effects of elevation can be crazy. Every step can be exhausting both mentally and physically. I was determined and inspired not to quit. 10 hours after our journey began we were at the summit, almost 14,500 feet up. The top was completely breathtaking.
Those pictures helped me through the 10 hours up and the 7 hours down. Worlds away and without even knowing it those beautiful children inspired me to get to new heights.

Almost Halfway There

Don't you love our logo? It was designed by Candace's sweet hubby. Our shirts are getting printed this week.

Most of us are almost halfway there in our miles. We have the Long Beach Marathon coming up on October 9th. We would appreciate any and all prayers for our health and for a successful race day. Cristina, Kim, Erica, Bradleigh, Gretchen and I (Lisa) will be running the full marathon and Jodi, Candace, and Chris Ann will be running the half marathon.

Our group has raised over $8,600 to date for the Acres of Love Bridges Forever Home children.

Thank you for your support.

The Girls

This picture was taken at our "1st Quarter Celebration." We are all on target with our miles and still going strong, meeting several times a week at 5:20am to pound the pavement for the children Acres of Love. We have raised almost $9000 so far!
We are running in the Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday, Oct 9th.

Running in the Hail

Well, we had our long run on Saturday. A group of us (Jodi, Candace, ChrisAnn, Bradleigh, Erica and I) met down at North Beach. Erica actually got there early and did two miles before we arrived. Anyway, we split up in to two groups. We ran PCH from North Beach heading towards Dana Point Harbor. We started noticing a couple miles into it that there were drops on the ground. Eventually it started to really rain. Then we heard the rumble of thunder.

As we crossed the bridge over to what we lovingly call "exile island". It's really not a bad place to run but a few years ago when we first started adding a lot of miles we weren't real creative with the route. So, to add mileage we would run the island several times. You feel a bit like a hamster on a wheel going around and around. Its actually quite lovely, you can see the boats in the harbor, watch paddleboarders... The smell, though, not so good. I would says its a cross between rotting fish and mildew.

I'm getting sidetracked, as we walked over the bridge, it started to pour down rain. We were drenched.... We looked down and could see little pieces of ice on the ground. We could also feel them hitting us. It was hailing. Some were small like pebbles but others were the size of grapes. It's a pretty rare occurence for it to hail in Southern California. Bradleigh, Erica and I took shelter in the bathroom but we had endured the worst of it. The rain and hail stopped.

So, we posed to take this picture with the hail. This was around mile 5 and had 10 more miles to go in our wet clothes and sloshy shoes....

Not sure if this is a rave run but I can say we won't soon forget it and have earned our bragging rights.

Rave Run

If you subscribe to Runners World Magazine then you are familiar with the page in each issue called "Rave Runs." Here they feature epic pictures of amazing places around the world that people run.

I was in Santa Cruz for the last week with my family. I went on my morning runs past farm land, into La Selva Beach and through Manresa State Beach. It was beautiful, some of the best parts of the trip for me. I would go early in the morning, all alone, through the cool fog, exploring such gorgeous scenery. And on every run I would think about the "Rave Runs."

Hoping the other gals that are on this 1000 mile journey with me will also take some pics of their "rave runs" over the summer on their vacations. I know there will be girls in Spain, Iowa, Yosemite and several of us together camping in Doheny Beach over the 4th of July!

Where does 1000 miles take us?

So with 2 weeks under our belt, the most common question we get is: "Exactly how far is 1000 miles?". So to give it some perspective here is what I've discovered:

• From San Clemente, CA 1000 miles would take us all the way to Seattle, WA or San Antonio, TX or even Mazatlan, Mexico depending on the direction we headed.


• We could also pick a route that would have us touch 7 states. Starting in CA, going through NV, AZ, UT, CO, WY and then landing in NE.


• If we started in New York City, we would make it all the way to Tampa, FL.


• I also read that it is 1000 flight miles from New York City to London.


• Now if we were started in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the Bridges Forever home is, and headed north we would not only cross northern South Africa, but we would also travel through the countries of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. And land in the border town of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Now I've been a lot of places, but can't say I've been there.) I think this would be the most interesting journey and probably the most dangerous.

I wonder what else is 1000 miles. I wonder if we combined our miles together, how far we would go? Might have to look that up and share... Until then I am running and running and running and smiling as I think of all the wonderful places my miles could take me and the smiles my feet will help to bring those wonderful children in the Bridges Forever home.

My Other Running Buddies

My sweet baby Avery, 10 months old, had other plans than for me to sneak out of bed at 5am this morning to get ready to meet my running buddies. So we went running after her big sisters let for school, and brought our dog, Kobe with us. We ran the beautiful San Clemente beach trail and logged in 4.81 miles. Guess which one of these running buddies cried for 3.5 of those miles???

While she screamed because she was fighting her nap and I tried not to let the glaring looks of judgement bother me from other trail users, I thought about all the defenseless babies that were crying in South Africa today while their mothers literally died of AIDS next to them, leaving no one to respond lovingly to their cry and possibly leaving no living family members to meet their most basic needs. It is absolutely impossible to imagine how it would feel to know that you were going to die and leave your baby all alone in the world. I remember the painful guilt that I felt while on bed rest on the hospital during my last pregnancy. I hated not being able to be apart of the daily business of my girls at home and felt like I had abandoned them. Yet they had a host of loving family and friend that stepped in to care for them in my absence. Children today in Africa are being left all alone to face the world, find food, find safety. I pray for all those sick and dying mothers today and for the children they are leaving behind. I pray that God would mobilize his people to urgently step in and care for those children. I thank God for the people at Acres of Love that are "his hands and feet" to those children and I feel so honored to be a part of the cause. I pray for the hearts of the people that will learn of our mission to run 1ooo miles to raise money for Acres of Love, that they would feel called to pledge their support so that more children can be rescued and given the life God has intended for them.

Random Thoughts - Last Run of the Week

Well, here are the highlights of some random thoughts from my last run of the week:

• maybe a BLT, sweet potato fries and a large Miller lite are not a good pre-run meal


• doing it for the kids


• might as well go a little further - I'm already gonna have to wash these clothes anyway

So, I survived week one and just barely got my 20 in. yay... We had a crazy busy day today. Danny celebrated his first communion today, so, we hosted breakfast at our house with the family. Then, it was off to church for Danny's first communion. So amazing to see our son growing up and taking steps to follow Jesus. We're so proud.

As it always go with us, we always have more than one thing going on. Cole had his second degree black belt test today too. This was a four hour test. He did great; did several board breaks - one involving two 1" thick boards on top of each other. They were suspended between two concrete bricks. Crazy!

Then we were off to dinner. We were gone the entire day, an exhausting day. I immediately came in and threw on my running clothes to get in my last 2.5 miles for the week. I could have done it tomorrow but just couldnt stand the thought of it hanging over my head.

So, immediately I realized that my BLT dinner with potato fries and large beer might not have been the best choice.

As I'm running, I reminded myself that we are doing it for the kids. I was thinking how far would I run for my kids? If they were in pain, suffering, in need, whatever ---- I would run to the ends of the earth. Any parent would. So, for these children in Africa, I will run because they don't a mother to run to the ends of the earth for them.

As I was getting close to the end of my 2.5 mile run I thought maybe I should run a little further - I'm gonna have to wash these clothes anyway. That's the drawback of so much running - the laundry!!!

Week one is done.

Day One, Mother's Day Reflect

Thank you to those of you reading this blog and keeping track of our challenge.

I am so proud of our group.

My FIRST run for this challenge was a blessing.

I was lucky enough to run the streets of Ventura, CA on Mother's Day.

Those of you that know me, know I've had a tough few months, so to run through the

streets of the city where my husband and I grew up, where his family still lives, and the city where we were married was such a perfect setting to kick off this challenge.

Here's to a great 365 DAYS !!!! Thanks again for your support!!!

Update

We have a new member on our team: Michelle Krugh.... I'm just glad I wont have to keep up with her. That girl can run fast.

Welcome Michelle.

Our to date donations are just over $3,000... Thank you to everyone that is sponsoring us in this challenge. All money will go to the Acres of Love Bridges Forever Home.

Day 1

It's Day one of our challenge and many in our team have hit the streets today running to raise money for Acres of Love. Total donations to date are over $2,600 (assuming we each meet our 1,000 mile goal). Thank you to everyone who is sponsoring us... - Lisa Grace

Mother's Day 2011

In just a few days (Mother's Day 2011) we will embark on our newest challenge...to run 1000 MILES in 365 DAYS!!

We are a group of moms living in San Clemente, Ca. We have been running together for about 4 years now. Together we have done half marathons, marathons, duathlons and triathlons. We are excited about this next challenge in front of us. We are combining our love for running with our desire to make a difference in the lives of children on the other side of the world.

We will be asking people to sponsor us a certain amount of money for every mile completed in 365 days. (Example: $.10 x 1000 miles= $100)

100% of the money raised will go to the children at Acres of Love.

Acres of Love is a non profit organization that rescues and cares for abandoned AIDS orphans in South Africa. http://www.acresoflove.org/. Our money will help with the annual cost of taking care of the 10 children living in the Bridges Forever home.

Please consider:
-sponsoring one (or all!) of us for every mile we complete in the year
-make a one time, flat donation to Acres of Love via their website (please put "1000 Miles" in the comment section)
-join us in this challenge to complete 1000 miles and get sponsors of your own
-cheer us on!! :)

Please come back to this blog often and check in on our progress.

Thanks for your support.