Running Everyday for a Month: Lessons Learned

2 minute read

The #31for31 challenge began exactly one month ago today. 31 athletes committed to run 3.1 miles every day or any day in the month of March in honor of World Water Day, and in effort to raise funds for a clean water project in Ethiopia. I am sharing with you some lessons learned after finishing the month long challenge!

1. The hardest part happens in your head. Really, thinking about it. The best runs I have ever gone on are free of thought and full of awareness. Thinking about things can be hard, sometimes doing them is not as hard as anticipated. 

2. Sharing your goals can help you. There are studies about how important it is to share your goals, other findings about it mattering with whom you share your goals, and then even more research about the power of not sharing goals at all because it gives you a premature, motivation-diminishing praise. Everyone is different, and sharing the goal seemed to help me stay accountable. 

3. You might think taking days off running would give renewed energy, but it made it easier to adjust having it as a daily practice. Running every day makes it easier to….run every day. Doing it every day rather than taking an off day or running every other day, made it easier to run.

4. They say it takes 21 days to create a habit (or 66 depending on who you ask!), and I found it to be true with the #31for31 challenge. How do I know it has become a habit? When the desire to run feels like an urge stronger than the desire not to, it has become the new norm.

5.  Running outside in Maine during the month of March? Not ideal! Having a treadmill as a backup option helped on those days when outside running was especially cold, wet, or both. 

6. Progress matters more than perfection. Setting goals is accepting the risk that you may fail at reaching the goal. However, setting a goal propels you further than you would with no goal at all. I say, sign me up for failure when the other option is a failure to try.

7. Running can serve a much greater purpose than….running in loops around your neighborhood. The month may be over but the impact lives on. As a result of the 31 athletes participating and oh-so-generous donors, more than $2,900 has been raised for a clean water project in Ethiopia. 

Thank you to everyone who joined the #31for31 challenge. A shout-out 📢 goes to one very generous donor who matched every single dollar raised by our runners ($961!) and then one more individual who rose to the matching challenge with another large donation (of $620!). Big thanks also goes to Lock Laces for donating no-tie shoe laces for all our 31 runners.  You are the hope, the light, and the change our world needs!

👟 Special thanks to Newton Running for saving the day! I also learned during this challenge that I desperately needed new running shoes especially after running across Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire in 2020. The Newton Running team made sure my feet were happy during the challenge with some new shoes to cover the miles! 👟

Hope Knows No Boundaries

3 Minute Read

Love and hope are powerful feelings. You can fall so in love with a person or place, that you’re no longer the same and a small piece of you is forever connected, no matter the time or distance apart. Africa had a way of getting into my heart and remaining there to this very day. 

When I learned about the global water crisis, I knew I wanted to get involved. After raising $150,000 for clean water projects during my solo across the Atlantic, I was eager to help build and visit the water projects. Fast-forward a year later and I am in Kenya for a month-long trip to visit projects and help build them. It was exciting to see that change was possible and encoring to know that there were solutions with lasting impact. 

It was also incredibly overwhelming. 

I felt deflated thinking how every one person we helped, there were a hundred or maybe a thousand more we could never reach. I felt more overwhelmed than I felt running 100-miles or covering thousands of miles on the bike. I was running low on hope.

Loud bursts of laughter from a group of children got me out of my head and caught my attention. I was curious to find out the source of joy these children so deeply felt. I just had to find out. 

I looked down at the ground to see rusty wire. Dusty bottle caps. Bits of string tied together. Essentially, I looking at what most would consider a pile of trash. 

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. 

Charles and all his friends would scavenge through the trash, finding any useful bits, and make their very own toys. They weren’t waiting for someone to help them or show them the way. They weren’t wasting a moment to discover joy in what they had in front of them even if it didn’t come in a shiny package.

My heart was so touched by their spirit to take what most would consider to be useless and turn it into something beautiful.

• Pain was real, but so was hope. 

• Hope was not gone but smiling right back at me. 

• Hope was possible in places & in ways that it didn’t seem to belong. 

Remembering them — their laughter, pride, and smiles — always gives me that warm feeling deep within. They helped me see that that there is still light in dark spots, and that, in fact, light shines brightest in the darkest places. 

If Charles and his friends can hold onto hope in dark spots, so can I. My hope is that you are encouraged to know, as Charles and his friends so beautifully reminded me, that even if we have nothing left in this world but hope, that is enough. 

Just like Charles turned trash to treasure, Coasters for a Cause is all about turning up-cycled nautical charts into gifts to buy and share. All proceeds go to a clean water project in Ethiopia. More than $1,000 has been raised for the water project thanks to everyone who ordered Coasters for a Cause.

Still holiday shopping? Consider placing an order for handmade up-cycled nautical coasters with all proceeds helping a project in Ethiopia!

PROJECT UPDATE: Preparations are underway for the clean water project in Tanzania that was funded by Run4Water. Here are some things the field team has been working on:

• Translating training and community engagement manuals into Swahili.

• Introducing the model of “Vision of a Healthy Village” (VHV) to local villages.

• Preliminary hardware designs for water points.

• Connecting with local churches and religious institutions for support.

• Recruiting and hiring more staff on the ground.

I hope you are just as excited as I am to see all the real, sustainable change God has planned for these families!

Sisters4Water: Meet These Water Warriors

4 Minute Read, 7 minute Video

Endurance has been a gift in my life. Endurance can be a tool to lift others up out of a life of poverty, but also a tool to inspire others. Part of that gift of endurance is sharing it with others so that they can take the message and run. Or, weave. 

Inspiration has the power to create change. Not just a feeling, but a force that can be channeled for good. 

In 2011, I was invited to speak at the Chautauqua Institute. This summer resort is nestled within 2,070 acres on the shores of Chautauqua Lake, NY, with lectures, performing arts, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. After sharing my presentation at the Hall of Philosophy, I met two lovely young ladies, Ella & Mabel. 

Learning about the water crisis made me feel inspired to act, and now they were inspired, too. 

Since 2012, these two compassionate, committed, artists and activists have created have formed Sisters4Water, where they are devoted to changing the world, one potholder at a time. 

They use their hands and hearts to make potholders, all with donated materials so that 100% goes directly to H2O for Life. To date, they’re raised $14,000 to fund projects in Malawi, Kenya, India, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Ethiopia. They are currently raising funds for a water project right here in the states, Navajo Nation in New Mexico for 5 water storage tanks.

Meet the water warriors behind Sister4Water and their journey from inspiration to action in a short interview:

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself:  

We are artists and activists devoted to changing the world, one potholder at a time. This is our ELEVENTH year weaving potholders in support of water rights. All of our materials are donated, so every penny we make goes directly to H2O for Life. The potholders are 100% cotton, made from loops from Harrisville Designs, a mill in New Hampshire. Therefore, they are entirely made in the USA! This is Ella's eleventh year weaving potholders and Mabel's seventh. Last summer we raised $6,600 for the 1872 students and 18 teachers of Matsimbe Secondary School in Malawi. We have raised over $14,000 since 2016! Our current project is Navajo Nation in New Mexico, where our $1,800 pledge will provide 5 water storage tanks.

2. Why water? What was your turning point from idea to action?

You are really the reason we’ve chosen water! We still remember in your speech how a hamburger takes 650 gallons of water to make. Water is so integral to our survival. We need it for sanitation, cooking, drinking… everything! And during a pandemic, with all this constant hand washing, where would we be without it? Once we realized how important water is, it seemed obvious that water was what we wanted the center of our activism to be.

3. What was the biggest wave that came your way on your journey?

Our biggest wave was probably being invited to the 2018 Water Ball from H2O for Life. It was a challenge to articulate our story, but it was so powerful and moving to be able to inspire so many people that night through such a large platform.

4. What’s one fact about water that moves you the most?

The fact that the human body cannot survive three days without water really emphasizes the importance water has in our society and to our species. At the end of the day, it’s a humbling fact that reminds us that water impacts all of us, and motivates us to keep working to improve water access.

5. Tackling the water crisis is no small feat. What encourages you?

Whenever we finish project, getting photos of progress and completion is so gratifying and always encourages us. But on a day-to-day basis, we are so grateful to have a network of family and friends that are constant pillars of support.

I inspired them, but they continue to inspire me. Inspiration can be a two-way street!

• Ella & Mabel have inspired me to learn a new skill and crochet and knit, myself. 

• Ella & Mabel have inspired me to continue to find creative ways to support water projects. 

• Ella & Mabel have inspired me to know that I am not alone in the fight for clean water for all. We are in this, together! 

They have inspired me to craft for water by creating up-cycled nautical-themed “coastal coasters” and selling them at farmers markets to support water projects. When I can’t use my legs or arms with running or cycling or swimming or rowing, I can use my hands just like they do. 

With the holidays right around the corner, you can give the gift of life by placing an order for their homemade potholders by emailing Ella & Mabel. See their work on IG or the selection of patterns and colors section on their website. 

So if you can craft, craft. If you can’t craft, support those who do. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something; And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

— Edward Evertt Hale

To learn more about Sister4Water, check out their Keynote Speech at the 2018 H2O for Life Water Ball.