Help Liza raise money

I thought you all might enjoy an update after the marathon so here goes…I’d love to say that because I stuck to my training plan religiously, the marathon was a breeze, but that would be a lie.  It was brutal, but it was even worse for others I ran with along the way.  Some of the more memorable themes yesterday:

Tough Love - My amazing husband met me at mile 14.5 to run a little with me.  I’d been feeling pretty good until that point when suddenly my right knee started sending me abort messages.  It wasn’t “painful”, but it would randomly start buckling, unable to support my weight on random strides.  Terry was smart enough to know I needed to figure this one out on my own and let me go shortly there after.

I ran, hobble, walked along to mile 16 when I ran across the same retiree as the grocery store.  Barely holding back tears and hoping for permission to abort the mission, I said “I think I did something to my knee”.  His response: “You got this, keep going” (my interpretation: “suck it up buttercup”).  Sure enough by mile 18, the right knee was more stable and stopped buckling.  Mile 20-26 was a river of misery as I slogged across the Arsenal with my left hip and left knee grumbling the whole way.  Despite my pleading eyes for mercy, volunteers just encouraged me to keep going.  Though we might want in the moment someone to give us permission to quit, what we need is the tough love of others so we can accomplish our goals and successfully complete our first marathon!

Community - I felt so appreciated and supported through out this journey and especially this weekend with so many people wishing me luck and checking in on me.  While I’d like to think I’m strong enough to do life on my own, it is so much more enjoyable being part of a loving community.  

Thank you all so much, I could probably have done it without you, but it is SO much more enjoyable with you!

- Liza

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For years, I’ve been searching for how to live a life filled with purpose.  Last year, I joined the board of directors of One Eighty.  They are a local non-profit who provides residential recovery to people who are overcoming crisis, poverty, and addiction so they can reclaim their lives and re-engage their God-given purpose.

As I’ve continued my search for “purpose”, I’m learning that living your life on purpose and with intentionality naturally breeds a purposeful life.  Running a marathon has been on my bucket list since I was a kid.  This year, I committed to doing it and in the month’s of training I have realized some cool parallel’s with the residents supported by One Eighty:

- Following the Plan: Doing amazing things with your life is as simple and difficult as following the plan you set out.  It’s extremely difficult because your brain will daily come up with all the excuses for why you can’t follow the plan.  As you learn to push past the doubts & excuses, creating new habits, you realize it’s as simple as honoring the commitments you made to yourself, giving up what you want in the moment (another hour of sleep, another serving, another high) for what you want most (completing your goal, honoring your commitments, a sober life…).

- Divine Intervention: When you choose to live a God-honoring life, you’re often faced with moments you can’t manage solely in your own strength.  As I’ve practiced relying on His strength to see me through those moments, it’s been amazing to see his divine intervention: from a random ultra runner in Arizona for a challenging long run in the desert heat to a chance grocery store encounter (retiree I hadn’t seen in years) to reassure my insecurities and provide practical training advice, to the countless other supportive friends along the journey.

- Asking for Help: As a society, it is hard for many of us to ask for help.  I think about the One Eighty residents and how hard it must be for them to acknowledge they need help in changing their life.  If they can do it, then I can find the courage to ask my friends, family, and coworkers to help me raise money for this amazing non-profit.

Will you partner with me in sharing light and being a beacon of hope in this world?

https://www.oneeighty.org/