20 MILES

On Saturday September  15  our group did our 20 Mile Training Run!  20 Miles... or as we like to refer to it as 4 - 5's.  That's it.. just four 5 mile runs!  Seems a little less intimidating right?  : )

What was so awesome about this run is that the church did a volunteer request and we had Hines Drive (the course we run) filled with members from our church cheering us along and doing water and Gatorade stations.  It made it so much fun, not knowing who we were going to see at the next stop!   Along with cheering us on along the way, there was also a ton of encouragement in chalk on the course. As well as a huge crowd cheering at the Finish Line!  How great is that!!

The cherry on top was that Jeff came out to one of the cheer/water stations with ALL 4 kids!  My hubby ROCKS!  It was so awesome seeing them and seeing the kids cheer me on. Cole quote, "Cheer Mommy, Cheer Mommy!"  Love it! 

Having had pretty crappy 16 and 18 Mile runs, I was a bit fearful going into the 20 miler, however, I changed some things up... better carbs before the run and better fuel during the run, and honestly - the 20 mile run was my best run ever!  Praise God!

As my group approached the finish line, we held hands and started singing... We are the Ridge Runners, God's mighty Ridge Runners, everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them.  We are the Ridge Runners!!

(Stacy, Heather, Julie, Gaby, Bev, and Shannon)

 

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

So it has been a little over a month since my last update and I wanted to update you all on my training. 

The Good - At the beginning of August we went to TX to visit Jeff's family.  While we were there, we were able to run together.  Although the "lows" there were in the low 70's, Jeff and I were able to run together.  Something we do not get to do here at home.  He ran all my runs with me in the morning, including a 15 mile long run on a Saturday.  He is such an encouragement to me, that honestly they were the best runs I had, had in awhile - even the 15 miler! 

The Bad - So this is not really "bad" but it was another "AH HA" moment for me in my running, and again, God just really brought some more things into perspective for me.  While running with a friend on a mid week 6 mile run, I made the comment that I had forgot to put my water bottles in the fridge the night before therefore my water was not cold, but warm and it was not refreshing.  She replied with - that's ok, you think that is bad - I only drink bottled water.  We both just kinda looked at each other and basically said we needed to get over ourselves.  Here we were complaining about our CLEAN water - when we are running to help provide clean water for others who are not as fortunate. 

The Ugly - Ok, if you have an easy stomach - just skip this part.  Last Saturday, I had my longest run to date.  16 Miles!  Worst. Run. Ever.   From the start I was feeling a bit "off", wasn't sure what, but just felt like I had no energy.  At about mile 11 - it hit.  I got the runs during my run.  Yuck, I know.  Thankfully, it was along a portion of the trail that had a lot of restrooms.  I visited 3 of them!  Although that happened, and after that I felt like I had even less energy - I FINISHED!  Another thing was that I forgot my phone that day and the girl I was running with didn't have her phone.  I know if I had had it I probably would had called Jeff to come get me and would had just called it a day.  I didn't have that option and therefore I pressed on.  I didn't finish strong - but I finished! Thank You Jesus.  This past week I was much more intentional about what I ate and made sure my body had the proper fuel.  Much better run.

I am doing this for one reason - because God laid it on my heart to do this to help raise funds and bring awareness to those in need.  Will you please help me build water wells in Zambia, Africa?

To those of you that have made a donation to Team World Vision in support of me - THANK YOU!! Your support means so much to me and helps me to keep going! If you have not yet made a donation, I ask that you would please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help build water wells in Zambia, Africa!! It would mean so much to me! Here is the link where you can donate online http://support.worldvision.org/goto/heathergerwing

Running Water

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to NJ to visit my family.  We arrived on Friday evening June 29th... the next morning was our scheduled 8 Mile Run.   During the night we had a massive Thunder/Rain/Wind Storm.  It was reported that winds were higher than that of Hurricane Irene that struck the area last year.  During the night the electricity kept flickering, I know this because my phone was plugged in next to the bed and kept making noises!  However, when the alarm went off for us to get up and run everything seemed fine... then the power went. Nothing.  Jeff and I went out for our run and when we returned there was still no electricity... in fact, there was no electricity for 4 days!  It did not return at my parents house until Tuesday evening.   However, where they live, everyone has well water, which needs a pump, which needs electricity... so no electricity means no running water. 

I can not even begin to explain what an eye opening experience this was.  I have no doubt that it was something that God wanted me to experience.  So we had no running water to drink, to brush our teeth, to flush our toilets.  Every time you had to use the bathroom we had jugs of water (that we got from family members who had water) that we had to put in the toilet to flush it.  We had to go to the Acme and buy bottled water and bags of ice - can you imagine!!! I mean we had to get in the car, drive 10 minutes to the store, and buy water and ice because we were unable to turn one of the multiple faucets in our house on to get it!!!! People... do you hear this?  Do you hear this???

What was an inconvenience for me, my family and most of the surrounding area was just that an INCONVENIENCE!  There are people living on this earth, God's children, that do not have clean water to drink!! We can do something about this!!  I am running for water!!!  I am training to run a marathon, to help raise money to fund water wells in Zambia, Africa.  Will you PLEASE, PLEASE support me.  I am a little over half way to my goal.  I can not reach it without your support!

To those of you that have made a donation to Team World Vision in support of me - THANK YOU!! Your support means so much to me and helps me to keep going! If you have not yet made a donation, I ask that you would please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help build water wells in Zambia, Africa!! It would mean so much to me! Here is the link where you can donate online http://support.worldvision.org/goto/heathergerwing

Water? Water!

This past Saturday I ran my second race.  I ran a 10K which is 6.2 miles.  I did my run/walk which is 4 minutes of running then a 1 minute walk and I completed it in 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I am happy that I completed it without needing to take extra walk breaks outside of my timed ones, and that I didn't feel like I was going to die afterwards.  I even did a "Phoebe Finish" (If you do not know what I am referring to search Phoebe Running Friends on YouTube and you will see!)  Here are some of the awesome ladies I got to run with!

The 10K had an unusual late start of 8:30 and it was already hot.  For the first 3.5 miles of the run we were running neighborhood streets in the direct sun.  It was HOT!!  Thankfully, there were several houses that had their sprinklers on facing the road and some were even holding hoses and just spraying you if you wanted it!!  I am not sure I would have survived without being cooled off by that water!  The remainder of the race was on a trail in the woods, which thankfully was shaded, however, I had never trained running trail, so I was more cautious in my running.    At one point when I was running and really hoping I would come across another house to hose me off, I had another "slap in the face" moment.  Here I am, wanting someone to spray me with a hose of cold clean water... and there are people living on this earth - the same earth - that we are living on and they do not even have cold clean water to drink!!!!  If you are familiar with Two Word Story, this came to my mind - Water? Water!

To those of you that have made a donation to Team World Vision in support of me - THANK YOU!!  Your support means so much to me and helps me to keep going! If you have not yet made a donation, I ask that you would please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help build water wells in Zambia, Africa!! It would mean so much to me!  Here is the link where you can donate online http://support.worldvision.org/goto/heathergerwing



Training!

Our "official" training for the Chicago Marathon began two weeks ago.  I can't believe I have already been at this for 4 months (CRAZY!) but now it is official.  I was doing a different program, but then when this one started I switched over to it so I would be running the same as everyone else.  Here is our training program:

I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I continue to train.  The miles are starting to add up, as are the pains.  I have been having issues with my right knee and my left foot.  Thankfully I rarely feel pain while running, it is mostly in my recovery.   Saturday afternoons are full of ice packs and Ibuprofen!



My Verse

God is SO Good!!! So, a little while ago I was searching my YouVersion App and I was highlighting all the verses that had the word "run" or "running" in them. I highlighted a few, but one really stood out as my favorite. Isaiah 40:31

A couple weekends ago, I went away to a homeschool conference for the weekend. I bought a book and the authors were one of the speakers I went to go listen to. After the session was over I went up and asked if they would sign my book. This is what I saw when I got it back:

How awesome is that?!! I love when God just thinks so much of you, that he orchestrates something like that to happen. God Rocks!!!

And let me not even get started at how this verse now speaks to me about mothering... Whoa!  : )

I am Running the Chicago Marathon with Team World Vision to help raise money to build water wells in Zambia, Africa!! Will you make a tax-deductible donation to support my efforts? Together we can help change lives in Africa!

http://support.worldvision.org/goto/heathergerwing

Thanks so much!!!

My First 5K

On Saturday, April 14th I ran my first race ever - The Martian 5K!! I can not even begin to express the joy of this accomplishment, yet at the same time, I am still struggling to enjoy it - if that makes any sense!

So I have been training faithfully - with huge support from Jeff!!! Not sure I would be able to do this, without his encouragement, support, and willingness to take on the kiddos while I go out for my runs!! As for my training I was following a basic run/walk training. Run for 3 min and walk for 1. Then I bumped the running up to 4 mins, and then 5 mins. Up until my last training run, I had yet run continuously. I was hoping to be able to run the 5K without walking, but had yet attempted it, so on Wednesday night for my last run, I decided to give it a try and I DID IT!!! It felt so good going into the race knowing that I had done it and that I could do it! My average pace on my last run was about 11:50 min/mile. Which I thought was pretty good b/c when I was running on the treadmill I was running a 12:00 min/mile pace.

Well, I am happy to report that I finished the 5K in 32:38 with an average pace of 10:30 min/mile - Woo Hoo!!! I came in 29th out of 72 in my age group (top half!) and 399 out of 783 runners overall (almost top half!) I must admit I was blown away with how well I did.


As exciting as it is to have this accomplishment, I am still struggling to enjoy the actual running. I battle a LOT of negative talk in my head (even after my great run on Saturday, my next run on Monday morning was hard and I again didn't *feel* like a runner) As I was running on Monday, I was praying to God and just asking Him to help me enjoy this. That I didn't want to continue going through these next 6 months NOT enjoying this and as I was praying this - the thought came into my head, "do you think THEY enjoy walking over 6 miles twice a day to get dirty water" Wow! Conviction! I am not sure what the next 6 months will look like. If this process will continue to be a struggle, or if I will be able to find some enjoyment and fulfillment out of it on a personal level. What I DO know, is that I am doing this for something so much greater than myself. This is NOT about me, it is about bringing awareness to desperate needs and about raising money to help those less fortunate.

I am Running the Chicago Marathon with Team World Vision to help raise money to build water wells in Zambia, Africa!! Will you make a tax-deductible donation to support my efforts? Together we can help change lives in Africa!

http://support.worldvision.org/goto/heathergerwing

Thank you so much for your support!!!!