Two. More. Months.

Yesterday was April 10th, which marked exactly two months until I will be at the cairn in Tobermory, marking the northern terminus of the Bruce Trail, taking my first strides of this 895km End to End CF journey. WOW.

It’s hard to believe that time is flying by so quickly, and before I know it, the run will be upon us! I keep plugging away, building up my mileage putting one foot in front of the other, and thankfully the logistics for the run are starting to come together! Our great friends at Outdoors Oriented are huge supporters and have covered my footwear and hydration needs, Dan’s old connections in the cycling world have my recovery nutrition covered, and the donations keep pouring in! I feel extremely blessed to have such supportive people and companies behind me, and I often feel overwhelmed by it all!

Planning and fundraising is coming along well, and we’ve still got lots of exciting things coming up:

–Run tee’s – If you’re interested in ordering a performance (moisture wicking) tee [$25], please let me know ASAP! We’ve got them in men’s, women’s and kids, all sizes. They’re super light, and really great quality – perfect for the gym, the trails, sunny days, etc!

–Wine lottery – Want a chance to win an instant wine cellar? To enter, pay $10 + 1 bottle of wine – all monetary proceeds go to CF Canada, and the wine bottles go to 4 winners! 1st prize gets 50% of the bottles, 2nd thru 4th divide the remaining 50%! Feel free to enter as many times as you’d like – the more wine, the bigger the prize! See the attached poster below! *If you’re far away, you can always e-transfer the $ and tell me what bottle to buy!

–Bottle drive – Stay tuned to social media – in addition to collecting bottles on an ongoing basis, we’ll be holding a bottle drive in May. More details to come!

–Run with Em – If you’d like to run with me (from 2km to 42km!) at any point on the trail, we’re starting to iron out our plans, so please let us know now! Email endtoendcf@gmail.com to make arrangements.

Don’t forget, on the last day, July 1st, everyone is welcome to join in the final 7km and run or walk from Fireman’s Park to Queenston Heights! All of you are invited to participate and/or cheer!

Lastly, if you have yet to donate, please click the ‘Donate’ tab to do so. No donation is too big or small – every little bit counts!

With thanks,
Emily

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Instagram, here I come…

Well folks, I’ve made the jump and I now officially have an Instagram account!!  Eeeek!

For those that know me, you know that I’m not really the social media type.  I prefer to live life, rather than capture it.  However, sometimes we must step out of our comfort zone to achieve our goals.  If I’d like to spread the word and raise as much awareness as possible for Cystic Fibrosis, this is something that must be done!

So…now that I’m over the hurdle of posting my first picture (who knew you couldn’t post a photo from a desktop computer?!?  It’s only a phone application!  Oops! *Dan hangs his head in disappointment*),  I hope you enjoy the visual updates and following along!

http://www.instagram.com/emilyallandakin

Cheers
Emily

Top 5 in Canada!!!

Look what we did!!!

I’m excited to say that our most recent donation has now put us on the Top 5 list of Team Fundraisers in Canada!!

WOW!  I’m so impressed and grateful!  Thank you, everyone!!

We’re 40% of the way to our goal…let’s keep that momentum going!

This is real now…

After at least 1.5 years of thinking about this, dreaming it in my head, then verbalizing it, there’s no stopping now. From publishing the website to writing and sending our first sponsorship request, the wheels are in motion. Oddly enough, the last piece of the puzzle was ‘officially’ telling people. With the last of the initial emails going out to my peeps today, we are officially rolling!

With this initial ‘kick-off’ comes many feelings and emotions – the first of which was ‘whoa, this is actually happening!’, followed by ‘can I actually do this?!?’. However, and more importantly, what outweighs these initial thoughts is the immense feeling of support. I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support I have received, and I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge everyone and say thank you. From my loving friends and family to my ever-constant first supporter and donor, cousin Laura, to Dan’s colleagues, my EEC people, the yoga crew and the Halinda cheer team, and the list goes on, I have felt extremely supported from day one.

That said, I would like to mention one experience in particular that has really touched me. Today I sent out my run ‘spiel’ to my coworkers, friends and fellow coaches at Brock. Not long after, the one and only Marty Calder, wrestling coach, Olympian, Olympic coach and ultimate ruler of the Brock wrestling dynasty, replied and thanked me for embracing the challenge. And not only did he reply, he replied-all. You see, Marty has a 26 year old brother currently waiting for his second pair of lungs, after facing chronic rejection with the first set. Marty’s brother, Phil, now lives with Marty while permanently on oxygen and waiting. So why is this significant? Because Marty Calder shared his story and helped it hit closer to home. Because Mart Calder sees people achieve feats of athletic greatness on a regular basis, yet he is behind me and supporting me.

So while not everyone has a positive reaction (‘can you actually do this?!?’ has been heard a few times), I know that I have the best community standing behind me and supporting me, and I know that we haven’t even scratched the surface yet.

So thank you, everyone! Believe me when I say your love, support and well wishes are being felt. Keep ’em coming!

Cheers

Em