Well hello again! Yes, that's right, again. For those of you who know me well the fact that I have signed up to fundraise for the Arthritis Society and run another marathon through their Joints in Motion program will probably come as a bit of a surprise. Many of you asked me during my fundraising phase in 2010 if I would do this again and my response to you was; never. I will now ever so humbly take those words right back, thank you very much, and re-reply to you with - you bet I will!
I will openly admit - I am terrible at fundraising. Yes I did it in 2010 and yes I reached and exceeded my fundraising goal then but it was not something that I was even willing to consider repeating at that time for many reasons:
* Beacuse I'm terrible at asking people for favours, never mind asking them for money.
* Because of the knot of stress that resided in my stomach for 12 months as I watched my thermometer slowly climb and my timeline quickly run out.
* Because writing formal letters asking companies for money or merchandies donations is along the same likeness scale for me as getting a tooth pulled.
* Because of the 3 inches that my shoulders dropped and the tears that came streaming down my face as the stress my body held for a year was eased when I realized I had reached my goal.
* Because my 30-something friends are all quite understandably saving their pennies to buy a home, put aside for children, or even that oh-so-important bottle of wine at the end of a long week and I completely understand that.
* And oh-so-vainly, because of the 27 grey hairs (aka "sparkle") that were added to my giant mane of curls that I was still unwilling to dye - I'm just being honest!
As stressful and difficult as my fundraising journey was, it is a tiny dot in my memory when I compare it to the reasons why I have been inspired to signed up to do this all over again:
* First and foremost because Katherine tried for so long to have a child and now, because of her arthritis she struggles to even pick up her sweet baby girl.
* Because the moment I met the many Joints in Motion Team Members in the Caymans who live with arthritis I was humbled by their daily life struggles and knew that I needed to do more to help make their lives better.
* Because I can not, in good conscience, sit by, throw my hands up in the air and say, "I've already done my part - now it's someone else's turn".
* Because I spent this past summer not being able to run due to injury and I could not imagine having a doctor tell me that I couldn't run due to arthritis.
* Because of four other wonderful people in my life who also live with this disease and have given me so much in the short time I've known them.
* And back to that whole vanity thing, because I really want to get my running booty and legs back!
So.... Here goes round two! I will be posting randomly to this blog over the coming days/weeks/months with tidbits of information, stories of those I know who live with arthritis, and of course updates on my fundraising antics. I hope you'll keep up with me as I go through this journey once again as you were all a fantastic support crew during round one and I would be honoured to have you along for the ride for round two!
As with last time, the "Donate Now!" link near the top of this blog on the right hand side will take you directly to my fundraising page where you can donate, read my reasons for doing this (bear with me - I'm still editing that part of the page) and of course track my fundraising progress. Should you have any questions or want more information, please feel free to contact me directly I would love to talk to you. I would also love to talk to you if you have any great fundraising ideas!
Thank you all for your support - heeeeeere we go!
