26 miles for 26 girls

Hey friends. I want to share with you something that I will be doing over the next few months.  

I've come to absolutely love running over the past few years.  After my first half marathon in 2009, I swore that I would never do it again.  A few weekends ago in Richmond, Virginia, I ran my sixth.  Never say never, people.    Another thing I said that I would never do is run a marathon.  Well, part of the reason for this post is to tell you that I am doing it, thanks to the kind encouragement (begging, manipulating, conning) of my good friend Erin Leigh Patterson. 

We are signed up. Erin Leigh and I will be running the full marathon in Atlanta on March 17th!   

Part of the reason she was able to convince me to do it is that we are running for something bigger than ourselves. You might be aware that something I am passionate about is caring for the poor. The problem is that I haven't been able to decipher a way to do something about it, something that might actually help without hurting. 

 

The only thing I can figure out to do is to start with something.  This is my something. That something is an organization called She's the First: "a not-for-profit that sponsors girls’ education in the developing world, helping them be the first in their families to graduate."  Here's some more information about the organization:http://www.shesthefirst.org/about/faq/. The more I learn about systemic poverty, the more convinced I am that education is key for long term change. 

Erin Leigh and I will be running 26.2 miles together on March 17.  Our goal is to raise $7800 to sponsor 26 girls to school in Nepal (see info about the Shesthefirst's partner in Nepal here).  That's where you come in.  Will you help us run this marathon and send these 26 young women to school?  

Here is a link to our fundraising page : http://www.razoo.com/story/26-Miles-For-26-Girls.  Erin Leigh and I will be updating the page periodically with videos about our training and fundraising.  This is a BIG, GOD-sized goal, y'all!   Anything helps!