So we were officially committed, and we both knew that the sooner we started on our fundraising and training,, the better. As it turns out, when you sign up to be an Ultimate Hiker you commit to raise $2500 to help fund the life saving childrens cancer research. What we didn't think full circle about was, that $2500 number was EACH.
Yup Brian and I committed to raising $5000 or more to help try and save the lives of kids we didnt even know! Kids and families we would never meet. $5000 is alot of money!
Well it's alot of money when you think about trying to raise it, but in the big picture of things,, $5000 is so incredibly small. When you learn what it costs to save your child that is dying, the beautiful life that you created that is now suffering and in pain. The hospital bills, care giver bills, medicines, on and on... and take those numbers and multiply them over and over. How many times over?? How about 43 times each and every day! That's how many children are diagnosed with cancer EACH DAY!! That's 43 families, today, another 43 tomorrow, and so on,, each one of them needing alot more than $5000 just to get them in the door of a hospital that will hopefully save their most precious gift.
So onward and upward, we dug in and created our fundraising page and got started sending out the emails. We each had a page of our own, and then we had our Team page.. Team Terra Firma. We had committed to doing this together as a team and the money we were raising, we were doing it also as a team. Check it out.. http://www.curesearchevents.org/goto/terrafirma.
We sent out hundreds of emails. no kidding,, hundreds and had some fun along the way competing our selves to see who could get the most donations.
It wasnt easy but by hike day we were over 50% of the way there and climbing. (get it,, its a a hike, and we climb hills.. and our fundraising was "climbing".....?? Funny right? ,, you get a little dopey after hiking all those miles)
Monday, September 19, 2016
Monday, August 15, 2016
Money Isnt everything...
So while we committed to raising all that money, we also had a long long way to go to get into shape. We went on our first training hike/walk in April down in Greene County hiking just over 7.5 miles! That was a long morning for sure...But a great start.
Over the next several months we went on several training hikes together, ranging from 3-4 miles up to 12+!! Some days were spent just on the Montour Trail near our home, getting miles in under our boots. Other days we got out into the hillier areas that surround Pittsburgh.... like the day we decided we would train on the Rachel Carson Trail. We had already participated in the Rachel Carson Challenge a few years ago and were familiar with the difficulty of the terrain. It was just as miserable as we had remembered.
We hiked a power line down near Uniontown, and the gorgeous mountains of the Adirondacks near Lake Placid, NY.
But lets not forget our "favorite" training of all time.... STAIRS! yup... as part of our training, we would drive up to Oakland to the Pitt Campus and the Cathedral of learning. A towering building that has two stairwells that go up and up and up... 36 floors to be exact... 757 stairs to be more exact.
We start in the basement and hike up all 36, have a quick drink and break, then take the elevator back down and do it all over again. What a work out!!! I never want to see those stairs again!!
Over the next several months we went on several training hikes together, ranging from 3-4 miles up to 12+!! Some days were spent just on the Montour Trail near our home, getting miles in under our boots. Other days we got out into the hillier areas that surround Pittsburgh.... like the day we decided we would train on the Rachel Carson Trail. We had already participated in the Rachel Carson Challenge a few years ago and were familiar with the difficulty of the terrain. It was just as miserable as we had remembered.
We hiked a power line down near Uniontown, and the gorgeous mountains of the Adirondacks near Lake Placid, NY.
But lets not forget our "favorite" training of all time.... STAIRS! yup... as part of our training, we would drive up to Oakland to the Pitt Campus and the Cathedral of learning. A towering building that has two stairwells that go up and up and up... 36 floors to be exact... 757 stairs to be more exact.
We start in the basement and hike up all 36, have a quick drink and break, then take the elevator back down and do it all over again. What a work out!!! I never want to see those stairs again!!
How it came to be...
On Wednesday April 6, 2016 Brian and I attended the information meeting at REI South Side works to learn what the CureSearch Ultimate hike was all about... but let's back up..
Brian and I had been talking for a while that we wanted to get involved in something, either volunteer work, a mission trip, something. But we didn't know what that something was, just that God was calling us to take a on something. . While cleaning out my junk emails one day, I happened to click on an email from REI,which I never do, and came across an events calendar. On this calendar was an information meeting for the Cure Search Ultimate Hike. I thought, hmmm that sounds interesting and kind of fun, having NO idea what it was. It just sounded like a hike Brian and I could do together.
As I read on, I learned that this Ultimate Hike was much more than a walk in the woods, but it was a means for us to raise money for childhood cancer research. Well we didn't know anyone that has been effected by this and thankfully we had not been touched either. So this sounded "nice" and maybe?? what we were looking for,, was this our "something"? I signed us up thinking, it's just a meeting, why not.
A few days later while browsing around facebook, I came across a post on one of Brian's fraternity brothers pages. The post spoke about a woman that was a "sister" to their fraternity in college and the devastating news she had just received. Her child was sick and they were rushing to have tests run. But what struck me more was reading further on her page. This was her SECOND child, her youngest that was going through this news,, her FIRST child had already battled cancer and lost. Two children in one family?
Brian and I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. We are all part of a greater plan and our story has already been written. It is up to us to listen to the whispers from God to follow his design for our lives as he places things in front of us, Everything for a reason. It is not for us to ask why he places things in our lives, it is our job to have faith and trust in Him. The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
We had found our "something".
Brian and I had been talking for a while that we wanted to get involved in something, either volunteer work, a mission trip, something. But we didn't know what that something was, just that God was calling us to take a on something. . While cleaning out my junk emails one day, I happened to click on an email from REI,which I never do, and came across an events calendar. On this calendar was an information meeting for the Cure Search Ultimate Hike. I thought, hmmm that sounds interesting and kind of fun, having NO idea what it was. It just sounded like a hike Brian and I could do together.
As I read on, I learned that this Ultimate Hike was much more than a walk in the woods, but it was a means for us to raise money for childhood cancer research. Well we didn't know anyone that has been effected by this and thankfully we had not been touched either. So this sounded "nice" and maybe?? what we were looking for,, was this our "something"? I signed us up thinking, it's just a meeting, why not.
A few days later while browsing around facebook, I came across a post on one of Brian's fraternity brothers pages. The post spoke about a woman that was a "sister" to their fraternity in college and the devastating news she had just received. Her child was sick and they were rushing to have tests run. But what struck me more was reading further on her page. This was her SECOND child, her youngest that was going through this news,, her FIRST child had already battled cancer and lost. Two children in one family?
Brian and I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. We are all part of a greater plan and our story has already been written. It is up to us to listen to the whispers from God to follow his design for our lives as he places things in front of us, Everything for a reason. It is not for us to ask why he places things in our lives, it is our job to have faith and trust in Him. The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
We had found our "something".
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