“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember,

You have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
-Harriet Tubman 

 

Well, in case you are wondering why I am gracing you with not one, but TWO posts today, let me explain.  My first post was one that I started on Friday but didn’t get a chance to finish until today.  This one is my actual post about what’s going on today, and I am way too excited to put off talking about it until tomorrow!

Ok, so first off I took today as a “rest” day…rest from exercise that is.  In reality, I have been quite busy and productive, which are actually two very different things by the way.  I started my morning with an all out effort at Fundraising for my upcoming race.  I created an event page, sent out emails, and the donations are already rolling in!  (BIG SHOUT OUT THANK YOU to those who have donated so far!)  This makes me a very happy girl.  Last year I was comparatively low key about my efforts and was not terribly successful in terms of raising donations.  This year I have changed tactics and basically resorted to shameless begging and badgering.  It appears this method is already working much better…

I also used my time this morning to clean out my closets and gather donations for our upcoming Book and Clothing Drive which just happens to fall on the day before my big run.  I am hoping this works to my advantage as I may be able to squeeze out some last minute donations and well wished while I’m there helping to staff it.  😉 Since I am the type of person who loves decluttering and getting rid of stuff, this would have been enough to make my day.  The fact that it was for a great cause was just a bonus. 😉

However, lucky me- it just kept getting better!  I got to spend time with my family this afternoon and meet my brother’s new dog who they just rescued.  Then I came home and found that my credit card balance was lower than I thought.  Awesome, right?   So with this new found information, I hopped on the Tough Chik website and officially registered to be a part of their 2014 team.  This has been something I have been wanting to do but putting off in an effort to save money and pay down some of our wedding debt.  However, I ultimately decided that I could buy a lesser expensive sign up package now and splurge on the uber cool cycling apparel later… maybe I could even set a new riding goal for myself to earn it. Lord knows I could use the added motivation to overcome my fear of my bike! 🙂

Again, this would have also made for a great day on it’s own, but it continued to get better still!

While I was on the Tough Chik page, I noticed they had a charity tab so I (of course) clicked on it and was totally blown away.  Tough Chik is affiliated with a charity called Project Athena, and I am absolutely IN LOVE with their mission:

The mission of Project Athena is to help women with breast cancer and other medical or traumatic setbacks live their athletic and adventurous dreams through the Project Athena Foundation. Awareness for Project Athena will be achieved through the ultra endurance endeavors of an experienced and high profile all-female adventure team who embody the spirit of Athena.

How AMAZING is that? And how did I not know about this sooner?!!!   I am pretty sure that if I built a charity from the ground up, this would be it’s exact mission– minus the “high profile” athletes of course because let’s face it, I’m not that well connected. 😉  More seriously though, I am just excited that an organization like this exists.  It gives me hope that someday I can quit my job and do something like this for work.  Plus, I am totally pumped that I can register to do an event with them.

In case you are not already blown away, I’ll leave you with their video.  In the meantime, I would like to remind you that every person on this planet has the power to make a difference.  What will you use yours for?