For the kids with the scars

If you want to get involved give me a shout at carmen@youthunlimited.com or donate at www.youthunlimited.com

I see what you did there

A few weeks ago I started something I'm calling "The Motivation Project". I understand that it being the beginning of a new year my little gym will be flooded with newbies trying hard to get healthy for their new year's resolutions. I am going to help.
My little gym is no more then a treadmill, stationary bike, a TV,  and a bow flex in the common room of my condo complex. But it does have one other accessory. It's a little plastic holder on the wall intended for notices to the residents of the building and the users of the gym. It is where strata puts up warnings about fire alarm testings and complaints about leaves. That sort of thing. Well I have decided to repurpose this paper holder for a more nobel purpose. I will post a new motivational quote up there every week. I chose to put up the quote "The voice inside your head that says you can't do this is a liar. -Your friendly neighbourhood motivator" See?

New story that is probably completely unrelated to The Motivation Project:

I received a mysterious voicemail from the President of ACOP Canada (ACOP is what christian's call a denomination of churches. It's simply a group of churches that all come from the same original root, like a family.) asking me to call him back. I had no idea what this could be about. Well I'm going to save you the long saga of phone tag that followed and just tell you what he wanted. He was inviting me to come and speak at ACOP's international conference in May in Calgary. 400 pastors for 26 different countries. 

I told him I would think about it.

Then I hung up the phone and laughed. Me? Really? Who am I to speak to such a crowd? And what could I possibly talk about that would make sense to 26 different cultures?

I walked to the gym still bewildered. I've only used a translator a few times before, and that was years ago! And with talking to so many different cultures, it's guaranteed that not everyone will get my jokes. Or my references. Or will understand anything I have to say! If I talk about taking a teen out to Starbucks, maybe that's offensive to some countries. Maybe others don't know what Starbucks is! 

I go onto the treadmill, where I do most of my deep thinking, and started to run still turning the challenge around in my mind. 

"I can't do it."

That's what I surmised. 

Then I looked up. There on the wall was an innocent piece of paper, put there by an ignorant foolish girl. It read "The voice in your head that says you can't do this is a liar. -Your friendly neighbourhood motivator" And I started to laugh. And laugh hard. 

I had to stop the treadmill. Laughing and running are hazardous to my ankles. 

Ok God. I see what you did there.

Funny how God (aka- your friendly neighbourhood motivator) chooses to speak to us sometimes eh? 

So on that note, I'm happy to announce that I will be speaking on "Discipling the next generation" at the ACOP international conference in Calgary in May.

It's going to be fun.

ps- God you spelled "liar" wrong.

The Saga

The crowd cheered and I felt the nervous excitement of months of planning, sacrifice, and hard work come to a head in this moment.
The Victoria Good Life Fitness Marathon. My first marathon ever.
I started to run and felt like my legs were extra heavy. Great. A dead leg day. These happen every once in a while. I just told myself the same thing I always tell myself "It's OK Carmen. How many times did you think you couldn't do it, and you did? You will do this today." By kilometre 5 it wasn't any better. "I should be warmed up by now." I thought. Around that point is where I saw my family.
All of them. (Minus Corey)
Seriously. I had a flock of fans cheering me on. More fans then any other runner by a land slide. I would need them that day.
Here is when I spotted them for the first time.

"Hey! That's me!" I shouted when I saw the big Youth Unlimited sign my father in-law was holding.

The second time I saw them I had to choke back tears. The show of love and support had me very emotional. 

The next 10km were not easy ones. Something was off. The next time I saw my family was at Kilometer 18 and they asked how it was going, I gave the thumbs down.

By kilometre 20 I was limping.

By kilometre 24 I was hobbling.

My back was out. This hasn't happened to me in over a year (since I started running regularly) and was an unhappy surprise to me. No. I'll be more honest then that.... 

It was devastating. 

I called my sister/athletic therapist on the phone and told her that I was broken and wouldn't be finishing the race today. "It's not the kind of pain you push through Kim. It's bad pain." 

She caught up to me after the turn around point and laid me out on the grass on the side of the road and started practicing various forms of torture on me. 

 People are streaming past me. Slow people. While I'm being pummelled on the side of the road in what looks like a strange mugging, I see the cop car go by. This car signals the end of the race. The roads open up again after he passes. I resigned myself to not finishing. We were making plans for a mock-race when I got home. Maybe get some youth to hold up kilometer marker signs, take some photos, and make a medal out of a crushed coke can at the end. I promised my supporters that I would run 42.2km. So I had to do it. Then we heard it...

"Thunk!" I heard it. Kim heard it. I think the whole island heard it. The sound of my hip popping back into place. I got up. Tested it. Looked at my family (who had all caught up and were with us now) and said "I think I can run." My mom says to me "You will regret it forever if you don't try." So I take off. I can see the end of the race car just under a kilometre away. I catch up. As I run past him he says "So you caught up eh?" "Yup!" I yell as I blast past him. They have shut down the water stations already, so I thank God for my camel pack. I decided to just keep running until my hip comes out again, or until they kick me off the course.

I get to Kilometre 31 and I think "I'm going to make it!" They only allow 5:30hrs to complete the marathon before they shut it down. I check my watch. I have just over an hour to do 11km. It's going to be tight. I'm slow on a regular day.

For encouragement my Mom and Dad start running beside me when they see me.

Then mom (like a sane person) peels off.

Dad doesn't.

He just keeps running with me. Eventually he hands his sweater off to the family as they drive by in the truck. He's in jeans and work boots. What a guy. We are chatting as we run and he tells me he has never run more then 5km before.

We start passing people. We get far enough ahead that the roads are no longer closed. I can start running on the road instead of the side walk again! This is encouraging.
The last 11km running with my dad were the easiest and most enjoyable of the entire marathon.

 We crossed the finish line holding hands.

 They say that the person who starts the marathon, and the person who finishes the marathon are two different people. I can testify to the truth of that statement.

Today I am more grateful for these people then I was last week. I know that a race run with others is better then a race run alone. I blubbered like a baby at Thanksgiving dinner when I tried to articulate my love and gratitude for the family God has given me. 

Thank you family for being amazing. I couldn't have finished that race without you. Looking back now, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I love you all.

WOOHOOO!!!

WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who gave to my marathon fundraiser! We had a goal of $2,100, and to date have raised $1,985! There are 2km left to buy, $50 each. If you want to donate the click here. Of course if more comes in then that then great! (But I'm not running more then 42km!)

Funds are for Momentum. Specifically to building connection packages to help my mentor team connect with their mentees. These packages will be filled with coffee gift cards, laser tag tickets, slurpee coupons, decks of cards, etc. Anything that will help the mentors connect and build relationship with their teen.

Want to meet the teens?

Here is this year's batch of Momentum students!

Thank you to everyone who donated!!! I will keep you updated with stories as things progress!

Half Way to Agony

See the blue part? That's what we've raised!

People have been really getting on board with my marathon fundraiser! So We are 52% of the way to my run. This is what it looks like...

The part in pink is what's been donated so far.

All the money is going towards providing connection packages for my mentor team. I am connecting a bunch of awesome caring adults with some of my messy teenagers. The mentors will take the teens out for coffee, a game of laser tag, bowling, whatever, and while they are there they will ask them some hard questions about life. My aim is to equip these mentors with a package full of coffee gift cards, decks of cards, tickets to different fun things to do...etc. So all the money raised from the marathon will go directly to providing these connection packages for my super duper mentor team!

Yay team!!!

We still need help! If you want to donate just click here. At this point I can give up if I'm tired after 22km. So if you want to see me agonize all the way to the end be sure to keep me accountable by buying a kilometre! $50 each.

Marathon Progress/Come Take Me Home

Thank you to all of you who have donated to my marathon fundraiser! After just a few weeks, we are 25% there!

And how is my training going? 

I'm so glad you asked!

...It's crap. 

Last Saturday I was supposed to run 32km. This would be my second time doing this distance, the longest distance that I ever do in my training. At kilometre 19 I called my husband and said...and I quote... "I don't want to do this anymore. Come take me home." 

Big. Fat. Failure. 

I was so frustrated with myself. Yes there were big hills on this run. Yes it was raining. But I've done worse before. Why did I give up this time when I kicked butt last time? One word....

Accountability.

The last time I did this long run I told people via facebook that I was going to do it. So when I wanted to give up and call for a ride home, I didn't. Because I knew that I had promised the internet that I would do it. This last weekend I didn't tell anyone that I was going for another long haul. So giving up had no public consequences. (Besides the obvious ones here now with this public confession.) 

This reminds me of my walk with God. There have been times when I've been tired. I've prayed that simple prayer "God, I don't want to do this anymore. Come take me home." But He didn't. I'm still here trucking away at following Him and working at establishing His kingdom here on earth. And I love it.

If you are tired and ready to pack it in I want to encourage you today. Create accountability for yourself. Tell a friend. Tell someone about your hopes and dreams, the things God has called you to. Whether that's committing to reading your bible everyday, or getting to know your neighbours, or whatever he has called you to. Tell someone about it and ask them to keep you accountable. That way it's harder to give up when you have someone keeping tabs on you.

Anyways. I'm off to do my run today. 7miles. (That's 11.26km.) I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks for being my accountability! 

This is me at km 21 last spring at my first half-marathon.

I may not be smiling so big on October 13th, because on October 13th I will be running my first FULL MARATHON! Let's put that in perspective shall we?

42.1km is from Vancouver to Langley

or for my islander friends....

42.1km is from Victoria to Shawnigan Lake.

So why am I doing this? I run a program called Momentum, a peer mentorship program where I have a bunch of teenagers from the high school come and volunteer at my elementary school recreation program. They will gain the volunteer hours they need to graduate while being stretched and challenged by me and my team of mentors. Each teen will meet every other week with the mentor I have hand selected (with much prayer) for them. Their mentor will ask them questions, listen to them, pour into them their own wisdom, and, if the teen is ok with it, pray for them. I am so excited to see this happen. This is what I've been doing one-on-one with teens for the past 5 years. Now instead of just me working with my dozen or so teens, I am multiplying my impact by mobilizing and connecting dozens of adults to work with many more teens. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few right?

In order to help my mentors be the best mentors they can be, I'm providing them with "Mentor Packages" (Creative name right?) In it will be Tim Hortons gift cards, a deck of playing cards, admission tickets to the batting cage and castle fun park...etc. This will help them connect with their teen in fun ways without breaking the bank. I estimate these packages will cost about $2,000 to put together. Momentum is only limited by volunteers and finances...because I have more student applications then I know what to do with! 

So back to the marathon. I am fundraising for Momentum by way of my marathon. I'm asking for people to sponsor me for each kilometre, $50 per. I already have sponsors for the first 6 kilometres! So that leaves 36 yet to be claimed. 

Will you sponsor Momentum via my marathon? Ask me for details or go to www.youthunlimited.com and click "donate" then fill out the appropriate fields. Be sure to say "Carmen Rempel marathon" in the "Give to the program or staff member" field. 

I'll keep you updated on my training and the fundraiser progress here!