Get Active, Support a Great Cause

Why run? Bike? Swim? Race? I started doing it for a good cause. I was signed up to do a Girls on the Run race  

and realized, I don't know if I can run 3.1 miles with these girls. I enlisted one of my best friends and she and I began our running extravaganza from there. We signed up and ran/walked our first ever 5k in October and we have been doing races almost every month together since then for over a year. I am now the coach for GOTR at my school. This is an incredible program and it teaches the girls more than just running. It teaches them self confidence, healthy habits, inspiring others, all of those feel good moments that girls need to survive the school years and the "catty-ness" girls sometimes find themselves in with friends. This year we have an amazing group of girls. 
I have done a lot of races to support cancer research, child diabetes, autism, etc... It is a great way to show others that you care and to put your money toward a great cause. Along the way you meet others who are personally affected by these issues or who just want to connect and show support for others. 

I fortunately have not had any of these issues hit my personal family but I have several friends and I have taught tons of kids who are dealing with these issues. It is just my way of letting others know I care in a fun way! 

So why should you get to running, biking, swimming? Or donating to racers and events?

Check out a few of these other great causes:

Today a friend of ours was on Comcast news today sharing something that is near and dear to her family, her company LIST (she is the CEO of Brandon's company) and a lot of their friends. She shared information about a  group called Team in Training. This is a group of dedicated racers that get together, train for events and travel all over supporting and raising money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They don't care what your level of activity is, a beginner, novice, advanced... they just want to raise money for their cause. I am hoping to do an event with them soon- maybe the Nike women's marathon? Check out Katie Sleep's interview about this fabulous group!

                                                  

I have a friend who is walking the Avon Breast cancer event. It is a 2 day event. 26 miles the first day and 13 miles the second day. She is walking in honor of her sister in law Holly who has been battling breast cancer for 8 years. Nanette, I am so proud of you. The time and dedication you have put in for training has been inspiring! Check out Nanette's page here and donate to her cause.

                                       

Another friend of mine is doing a race with her children to show support for her son who was born 24 weeks early. Through a lot of support and great groups, her son is an adorable, healthy and smart kid. Check out her page here and donate to her cause. 

                                           

Another great way to get started with racing is to just build relationships. I have made so many friends at school, church, better relationships with family, my husband and friends because of racing. Training together is a powerful bond and there is nothing like hearing encouragement and support from the people you love the most. 

        

      

   

So maybe you can't physically get up and run. Try walking a race (most 5k's are walk/run races). Try looking for a bike race or a swimming event. www.active.com Maybe you just aren't into exercising and being active but you would love to show your support. Check out one of the above teams and donate to them. 

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

       Today Brandon and I had a chance to share the most recent events in our lives with our church community. Brandon meets with our pastor once a week to hang out, have breakfast and talk about life together. During this time he had been sharing our "Living life with margin" and our pastor asked us to speak this morning at church to share with people about how we make finances, time and emotions work for us. 


        It was really cool talking to everyone about the things God has done in our lives. Being able to share that helped us to analyze a lot of the different ways that God has touched our lives these past few months. After service, I had several people approach us and ask about our eating and recent healthy lifestyle changes. 
Brandon and I learned today that we really enjoy sharing healthy eating habits and healthier lifestyles with people. It is feels great to be able to give back and help people. 


        I have been really interested in learning the health benefits through the foods people eat. Inflammation, aches and pains, back pains, Parkinson's, infections, degenerative disease, auto-immune disorders, cancers, thyroid diseases, etc all linked to food? Crazy how what we eat effects us that much. I've been researching the science behind what to eat and why. Today I listened to two interviews on health and wellness through Sean Croxton's Pod-casts. One was by Diane Sanfilippo and the other by Mark Sisson. 

I will be blogging about some of the things I learned later this week! Very cool stuff. 

      After a nice walk and all of this new knowledge, I sure was hungry- tonight I made breakfast for dinner. Brandon's choice! 

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Ingredients

   4 eggs

     1 cup milk (raw milk or coconut)

     2 teaspoons vanilla extract

     3/4 cup coconut flour

     1 tsp baking soda

     1/2 tsp sea salt

     2 tsp Cinnamon

  1 tsp Honey

  3 cup Apple Sauce

Should be thick and fluffy

      Process:

   Beat eggs in a bowl until well blended

       Add in Vanilla and Milk, mix well

      Add in the rest of the ingredients, mix until no lumps are left.

   Grease a skillet with butter and pour pancakes in (these flip well). Cook on medium-low heat until

    browned. These are good and with the butter there is a nice crisp around the edges. Allow them to

    cook until you start to see some bubbles in the batter. 

Drizzle with some Maple Syrup!