Update On My Birthday Wish!

Since we are 22 days into My Birthday Wish I thought it was about time for an update. This whole thing was just a little idea I had to make the most out of one of my favorite days of the year. Whatever I thought it was going to end up being like has been completely blown out of the water by what it has actually turned into.

In the 22 days since we started this we have had 50 people donate to the cause and have raised over $2000 dollars. IN 22 DAYS! That's NUTS! I am amazed by the support from best friends and friends I haven't seen in 10 years. The encouraging words that come along with the donations have been great. I can not express how blessed I feel. Its hard to have any bad days when you have such wonderful people supporting something you believe in with all of your heart.

We've got one more week left in this experiment and I'm sure it will continue to blow my mind. So thank you if you've donated to my birthday wish, thank you if you donated before my birthday wish and thank you if you've even considered donating! We will run race #10 this weekend with my Dad in Nashville (NROTC Vanderbilt University 5k For Fisher House on Saturday) and like always, every one of our supporters will be on our minds as we make our way along the course!

GOOOO G SHOCK!

Event #9 - Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K

This past Saturday, Nate & I headed to downtown Nashville for the Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K for Team G Shock's 9th race. This was by NO means our best race. In fact, it was our slowest, but I wouldn't say it was our worst. On top of us not having trained as much as we have for some past races, it was the toughest course (lots of hills - thanks Nashville!) we've run so far. And, it was COLD. Not just normal cold, but biting wind in your face cold. Brrrrr. A big shoutout to both of our families for the wonderful cold weather gear they gave us for Christmas - many layers of it were worn for this race! So THANK YOU!

BUT, despite the hills and the cold....we did it! This was also only the second race that we have run just the two of us, which was kind of fun. The race started at the Sommet Center (where the Predators play) and headed down to the river and up the first hill. It then wove through some downtown streets and then up the bigger hill, which was not fun at all. We had to slow it down a few times, but so did pretty much everyone around us so we didn't feel too bad about that. The last mile or so was mostly downhill or at least flat which was a nice change. So without further ado, here are our results:

778th place - Nate Towne - 35:10

779th place - Sara Ross - 35:10

Again, not fast at all, but we finished strong and we finished together and that's what counts! When we signed up for the race we also got tickets for a Predators game that night, so that was a nice bonus! Since it was just the two of us we don't have a ton of photos but here are a couple that we were able to sneak in.

before the race alllll bundled up!

and after! we did it :)

the Preds players heading to the Olympics :)

Nate & I at the Preds game!

And on a sidenote, my Birthday Wish is going better than I could have ever imagined. Today is Day 12 and we have gotten donations from 33 people already! That is crazy and the generosity of friends that I see everyday and friends that I haven't seen in years continues to amaze me. I can't wait to see where we get by the end of the month! GOOOO G SHOCK!

Faaaaaang Fiiiiingers!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Nashville Predators hockey team (which is probably most of you), they do this thing at games called Fang Fingers to pump up the crowd. Its kind of lame, but also kind of hilarious to see. Tomorrow morning at 10:00am, Nate & I will head over to downtown Nashville to run in the Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K. Its been raining for two days now and is supposed to sleet/snow tonight into the morning so we'll see how this one goes! :) But keep an eye out for results & photos next week from Team G Shock's 9th race!

And a quick update on My Birthday Wish....its day 5 and we are up to 16 people!! :) Craziness. I can't wait to see how many people we can add to that count by my birthday on the 28th! Happy Weekend, everyone!

My Day

My day started out as any day does. Get up, get ready and leave for work. Well, this morning turned out to be a liiiiittle different. As I was driving to work through, admittedly, not a great neighborhood, something caught my eye. Just a random sign in front of a house, nothing special. But while looking at the sign I saw something else, an older man laying in an odd position on the stoop. My first thought - oh he must be doing work to the house. And as I drove past that thought turned into - well...he kind of looked hurt. That thought made me take a turn around the block for another run past the house. If nothing was wrong, I could keep going with my day. But what if something WAS wrong?

I pulled over and rolled down the window to see if he was ok and immediately he yelled out "I think I broke my ankle." So I pulled over, got my cell phone out and walked over. With a few instructions from the man (who turns out was 80 years-old, bless him) to knock on a few neighbors doors and after much convincing, he let me call an ambulance. And ten minutes or so later, the whole thing was over and he was on his way to the hospital to get help.

I was happy to help, but I'm not telling this story to brag or to get kudos from anyone else. It just made me think a lot about fate and why things happen. What if I hadn't been paying attention or hadn't seen that sign? What if I'd been talking on my phone instead? (sorry, Mom!). But I did see him and thankfully was able to help. Sometimes things just happen that way. My Dad getting diagnosed with prostate cancer was not a good thing at all. But there have been some good things that have come out of it. Team G Shock has been one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. Nate & I have experience so much since we started this team. I could not have imagined how blessed we would be with amazing friends and family helping us out along the way. Just this week, with the launch of My Birthday Wish, we have been blown away by the support. From people we see every week to people we haven't seen in years - its amazing.

Some of the neighbors that came out while we were waiting for the ambulance this morning kept saying to me that "something good was going to happen to me" because I had helped out a stranger. Little did they know that great things have been happening in my life because of all of you for a long time. :) So THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.