The bacon level of commitment

February 24th

Run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute (8 times and I do it!)

I am back on track, but only finishing Week 5. My sister Barb is telling me about long runs through the woods near her house or better yet, runs to Limbert Farms near her friend's home in Agassiz. They run there and have lunch. http://www.limbertmountainfarm.com/
That sounds so much more fun than running on a treadmill, watching Regis and Kelly or X-Weighted, storms adding to the already huge piles of snow out the window. My commitment is waning.

So I take a bold step. I do up an email, explaining what I am doing. I call it "Viv's Mid-Life Challenge" in honour of my 50th birthday. In it, I ask for donations to a cause that Tom and I truly believe in, the Sanfilippo Children's Research Foundation. Because of the run, we will be missing this year's Sanfilippo Gala. http://www.alifeforelisa.org/ In the letter, I promise that I might not run the whole way, but I promise to finish, dragged across by my sisters if necessary. Over the years I've admired the commitment many of my friends have made by participating in events such as "The Weekend to End Breast Cancer" or the Manulife "Ride for Life" and all manner of other walkathons and running events. I've always thought that I was too out of shape to do something like that. Now it's my turn.

Before hitting the send button, I check with Elisabeth Linton at SCRF and she is thrilled and promises to send me an Elisa t-shirt to run in. I hit the send button. To my shock, the pledges are immediate, and quite high. Within a couple of days, I am over $2000 pledged and I haven't yet hit up my husband Tom or my mom. By the end of the week, I am over $3000. (If you are reading this and have pledged, don't forget to go to the SCRF website and pay up!)

This is it. There are lots of times in my life I have quit on a commitment to myself, but I never let down other people. I will do this. If not for me, then for Elisa.