Friday, September 12, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
WILL SHE TRI IRONMAN WISCONSIN? THE ANSWER: YES! SHE DID!
And I now say this: Ironman Wisconsin will make you very sore, even if you don't finish the bike and run.
*********************************
Seriously, I had a profound, amazing, incredible, magical experience that rose to the level of the spiritual. I am very grateful to everyone who helped me and my body to that line.
Race report in a few days.
Will she try Ironman Wisconsin again? She just might. She just might.
Thanks, everybody!
*********************************
Seriously, I had a profound, amazing, incredible, magical experience that rose to the level of the spiritual. I am very grateful to everyone who helped me and my body to that line.
Race report in a few days.
Will she try Ironman Wisconsin again? She just might. She just might.
Thanks, everybody!
Friday, September 5, 2008
All that's Left: Donate and Pray.
Dear Friends, Family, and Community Members,
Thanks again so much for your contributions to the Plumpy’Nut Ironman Challenge of 2008!
We knew when we started that we could make something amazing happen, and I am writing now, a day away from our final accounting deadline (2 pm CST Saturday September 6), to let you know that is the case.
As of today, by pooling our resources, we have raised more than $10,000 for Doctors Without Borders to use in the purchase of Plumpy’Nut, the medicinal-grade peanut butter food that is saving children from dying from starvation---at an amazing $40 a kid.
That means we’re on the edge of literally saving the lives of 250 children.
I was trying to wrap my head around that this morning, and what I saw was this:
A kindergarten with 25 children in it, captivated by a litter of kittens, playing soccer, learning to write an alphabet, practicing singing on key, preparing to tell their mothers and fathers and siblings what happened in their four-year-old lives that day.
Our fund makes that room full of kindergarteners possible. Plumpy’nut and its delivery by Doctors Without Borders makes the difference between whether those 25 kids are alive and well and learning numbers or not alive at all.
Once I could envision that room of 25 children, thanks to you, I could multiply it to ten rooms full of 25 kindergarteners with hopes and dreams and futures possible, to 250 high school graduations, to 250 weddings. These are the 250 children in whose lives our collective contributions have made all the difference.
It is amazing---and we’ve made this amazing thing happen.
Now, it’s time to multiply again.
The great appeal of the Janus Charity Challenge is that it rewards us for raising as much money as possible by offering the incentive of additional large donations to an athlete’s charity of choice. The awards to the top five funds raised are the largest. As best we can tell, we are currently in the sixth position. This will bring Doctors Without Borders some additional money, but far less than they need to address the needs of the 4.5 million children who are severely malnourished in Ethiopia this year, let alone the 14 million worldwide.
In Ironman training, you learn to dig deep, to push just a little further.
So we’re going to ask you to help us dig deep right now, as we approach the finish of this particular competition---just before 2:00 Central Standard Time Saturday.
If you have intended to pledge, but haven’t yet had the chance, please dig deep today and chip in. If you’ve already donated, “digging deep” may mean asking somebody else to join the Plumpy Nut Ironman Campaign; it may mean digging deep for quarters in the sofa; it may mean passing the hat at work on Friday, or writing to all of your triathlete friends or cycling buddies or feminist listserves and asking them to make a tax deductible contribution to Doctors Without Borders.. Every contribution helps---when $40 saves a life, $10 makes a significant impact, hard as that can be to believe from a North American perspective. If we can move into even the #5 slot in the Janus Charity Challenge, Janus will award Doctors Without Borders an additional $2,000---that’s another 40 infants or children’s lives saved. If we can move higher, the Janus contribution is greater.
Here are the links to our Plumpy’Nut Ironman donation sites.
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=250249&lis=0&kntae250249=078E99DA3F354110A8AFA4764D0321C2
http://www.firstgiving.com/amberault
As many of you know---because many of you have helped support me in changing this the last few years--- I am a non-athlete coming from a very sedentary, unfit background, still struggling to get healthy. Taking on Ironman has given me many rich moments ---- and has also involved some serious challenges. I have been raising money for Doctors Without Borders because it felt close to my heart and a bright spot in the difficult landscape of my training….and because my performance in the race would not affect the fund or the awards Janus gives to charities.
This has been especially true the last few weeks, when my sluggish thyroid has slowed me down considerably, probably impaired from the training, and when I broke a toe a few days ago in a freak swimming accident---- it was funny, in a cosmic way, but made Ironman look rather impossible—if not plain stooopid. These are both small things, in the big picture, but they have had me considering postponing my Ironman debut until ’09. “Thank God the Plumpy Nut fund isn’t affected by whether I race,” I thought as I’ve been limping around this week, because I’m not feeling quite in the place or shape to do it, instead of enjoying that “bring it on” state I’d expected after a year’s worth of training.
Today, however, I read the fine print: to participate in the Janus Charity Challenge, athletes “must register for and race in” the Ironman---broken toes and depleted thyroids not exempted.
Game on, friends. Game on.
Because I will dig deep for Plumpy’Nut, I’ll be at the starting line of Ironman Wisconsin Sunday, one plump social justice nut among a sea of 2,000 amazing athletes. Thanks for everything you have done so far for our campaign, and whatever you can do now to dig deep with me.
Let’s go!
Thanks again so much for your contributions to the Plumpy’Nut Ironman Challenge of 2008!
We knew when we started that we could make something amazing happen, and I am writing now, a day away from our final accounting deadline (2 pm CST Saturday September 6), to let you know that is the case.
As of today, by pooling our resources, we have raised more than $10,000 for Doctors Without Borders to use in the purchase of Plumpy’Nut, the medicinal-grade peanut butter food that is saving children from dying from starvation---at an amazing $40 a kid.
That means we’re on the edge of literally saving the lives of 250 children.
I was trying to wrap my head around that this morning, and what I saw was this:
A kindergarten with 25 children in it, captivated by a litter of kittens, playing soccer, learning to write an alphabet, practicing singing on key, preparing to tell their mothers and fathers and siblings what happened in their four-year-old lives that day.
Our fund makes that room full of kindergarteners possible. Plumpy’nut and its delivery by Doctors Without Borders makes the difference between whether those 25 kids are alive and well and learning numbers or not alive at all.
Once I could envision that room of 25 children, thanks to you, I could multiply it to ten rooms full of 25 kindergarteners with hopes and dreams and futures possible, to 250 high school graduations, to 250 weddings. These are the 250 children in whose lives our collective contributions have made all the difference.
It is amazing---and we’ve made this amazing thing happen.
Now, it’s time to multiply again.
The great appeal of the Janus Charity Challenge is that it rewards us for raising as much money as possible by offering the incentive of additional large donations to an athlete’s charity of choice. The awards to the top five funds raised are the largest. As best we can tell, we are currently in the sixth position. This will bring Doctors Without Borders some additional money, but far less than they need to address the needs of the 4.5 million children who are severely malnourished in Ethiopia this year, let alone the 14 million worldwide.
In Ironman training, you learn to dig deep, to push just a little further.
So we’re going to ask you to help us dig deep right now, as we approach the finish of this particular competition---just before 2:00 Central Standard Time Saturday.
If you have intended to pledge, but haven’t yet had the chance, please dig deep today and chip in. If you’ve already donated, “digging deep” may mean asking somebody else to join the Plumpy Nut Ironman Campaign; it may mean digging deep for quarters in the sofa; it may mean passing the hat at work on Friday, or writing to all of your triathlete friends or cycling buddies or feminist listserves and asking them to make a tax deductible contribution to Doctors Without Borders.. Every contribution helps---when $40 saves a life, $10 makes a significant impact, hard as that can be to believe from a North American perspective. If we can move into even the #5 slot in the Janus Charity Challenge, Janus will award Doctors Without Borders an additional $2,000---that’s another 40 infants or children’s lives saved. If we can move higher, the Janus contribution is greater.
Here are the links to our Plumpy’Nut Ironman donation sites.
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=250249&lis=0&kntae250249=078E99DA3F354110A8AFA4764D0321C2
http://www.firstgiving.com/amberault
As many of you know---because many of you have helped support me in changing this the last few years--- I am a non-athlete coming from a very sedentary, unfit background, still struggling to get healthy. Taking on Ironman has given me many rich moments ---- and has also involved some serious challenges. I have been raising money for Doctors Without Borders because it felt close to my heart and a bright spot in the difficult landscape of my training….and because my performance in the race would not affect the fund or the awards Janus gives to charities.
This has been especially true the last few weeks, when my sluggish thyroid has slowed me down considerably, probably impaired from the training, and when I broke a toe a few days ago in a freak swimming accident---- it was funny, in a cosmic way, but made Ironman look rather impossible—if not plain stooopid. These are both small things, in the big picture, but they have had me considering postponing my Ironman debut until ’09. “Thank God the Plumpy Nut fund isn’t affected by whether I race,” I thought as I’ve been limping around this week, because I’m not feeling quite in the place or shape to do it, instead of enjoying that “bring it on” state I’d expected after a year’s worth of training.
Today, however, I read the fine print: to participate in the Janus Charity Challenge, athletes “must register for and race in” the Ironman---broken toes and depleted thyroids not exempted.
Game on, friends. Game on.
Because I will dig deep for Plumpy’Nut, I’ll be at the starting line of Ironman Wisconsin Sunday, one plump social justice nut among a sea of 2,000 amazing athletes. Thanks for everything you have done so far for our campaign, and whatever you can do now to dig deep with me.
Let’s go!
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