Near and Dear

 For 9 years of my adult life, I worked in different capacities for The Hole in the Wall Camps.  This is a charity that is near and dear to my heart, and the heart of many others.  If you aren't familiar, I recommend you check out their website, http://www.holeinthewallcamps.org/ to learn more.  This global family of camps for children with serious medical conditions provides traditional camping opportunities for these children and their families, free of charge.  That's right!  Children who are too sick to participate in the average summer or weekend camp experience are able to attend a Hole in the Wall Camp for free and have the experience of a lifetime, all while receiving their treatment and under full medical supervision.  What could be better, right?

Well, what's better is being able to help support this wonderful organization.  A friend and fellow CrossFitter, Leah Spector, is joining the ranks of those who are taking on the Boston Marathon this spring and raising funds and awareness of Hole in the Wall along the way.  I come to you today to help Leah spread the word of her fundraising efforts and ask for your consideration in supporting her.  You can learn more about her goals and make a donation here.  Can you imagine running 26.2 miles on purpose???  I can't, and I'm sure I won't ever be up for that challenge, which is why I felt so compelled to support Leah by contributing financially.  I know that when she's rounding out mile 18, and then 22, and then 26.0, she'll be thinking of the kids that she's running for.  She'll be proud of the work she's done and thankful for the support she's received. 

Carla and Leah at the fundraiser this past weekend

Last weekend our gym hosted a charity competition to raise money to support Leah. I'm proud to say that we raised over $700 for her in one morning.  While that is an incredible amount of money, Leah's goal is to send two campers to camp this summer, which means she's in need of more donations to support her. If you feel so compelled, please consider supporting Leah today, tomorrow, or next week.  She's undertaking a tremendous goal- training to run 26.2 miles despite injury and winter climates- this woman is dedicated and driven.

So what are you doing this spring?  If you aren't running Boston yourself, maybe you could participate vicariously this way.

Thanks for your consideration in supporting Leah, and in learning more about a charity that means so much to me.

With love,
Whitney

They were running...

My heroes: 

This past Sunday, the crazy kids above ran the Newport (RI) Marathon and Half Marathon.  They were awesome.  Trust me. I'm not that easily impressed when it comes to athletic feats given that my parents are marathon runners (Miss Susie) and Ironman Triathletes (Mr. Kevin and Zsuzsa) so running a marathon is nothing new to me.  BUT (big but) watching these three train over the last few months, overcoming injury, work stress, and intense heat, they were awesome. 

In case you aren't up on your running knowledge, a marathon is 26.2 miles.  Yep. That's farther than my round trip drive to work each day.  That's about 1/3 the distance to New York City from Milford. And they R-A-N it.  Craziness.  This was Carla's (in red above) first marathon, although she's a seasoned half marathon and 20k-er.  She pushed herself to tick this one off the bucket list and she did just that.  For Molly (in brown) this was #3 (right Mol?) and she's dealt with foot injuries for the last two years but pushed through them.  For Mike (guess which one above) he did the Half Marathon after only starting back to running a month ago.  The longest Mike ran before the race was 7 miles and he PR'd his half marathon time by several minutes!  Again, awesome.

It was a cool 50 degrees and about 15 mph winds at the start, which is at first beach in Newport, RI.  They clung to their sweats as long as they could until the national anthem wrapped up and it was GO time.

3,2,1 GO- this is right after the gun went off

My partner in crime, Brenda, and I stuck close by the course to catch glimpses of these running beauties throughout their race.  The looks of determination, pain, pride, and exhaustion on all of the passing runners' faces was intense.  I kept thinking that I could never do that.  There is no way I could mentally push myself through the pain and monotony to finish 26.2.  Hell, I can barely run a 10k without a walk somewhere in there.

 Mike finished in 1:50 and minus the salty sweat, he looked like he'd just been out for a quick jog.  I was half convinced he'd keep going and see how much farther he could stand to go.  After a few bottles of water he pulled the trigger and hit a nearby watering hole for a burger and a beer(s).  Somewhere along the way my swim goggles made an appearance (see below).

And we rushed quickly back to the finish line to catch Molly and Carla coming in.  They stuck together, caught up on weeks of gossip, and pushed each other to make it to that finish line.  For not having run more than a 20k before this, I'd say they kicked some marathon butt!

Another friend from our gym, Andrew, also ran, but alas, my camera died and I couldn't snap any pics of him.  It's a pretty incredible feat.

I was more than happy to assume my role as team photog, team cheerleader, and team snack carrier so as to not have to participate in this thing.  I think I found my calling as a race spectator- just as they did for me when we swam across the sound in August. 

Congrats to all who ran last weekend in the many races going on.  You are brave and insane people!

-whitney