Rock And Roll Half Marathon Virginia Beach!!!!

Well the Rock and Roll Half Marathon has come and gone! It was my first race with The C-4 Racing Team and it was awesome! I was able to raise $3100 with C-4 for Young Life Capernaum with your help! Thank you! If you did not give to this race and you wish you had or even if you did, there is another chance to give! I am signed up to run the Wicked 10K on October 26th! The Wicked 10K is a race where people dress in costumes and just have a good time. If you would like to give to this race, please go to http://www.razoo.com/story/Wicked-10k.

The Rock and Roll Half Marathon was so fun. Hard and exhausting, but so fun and so worth it. I ran the whole way with my friend Kerry and it was so fun. Kerry could have easily kicked my butt in this race, but she's a good friend and stuck it out with me! Our time was 2hrs 17mins and 23secs! Felt real good about that! I finally got to meet my new friend and founder of C-3, Jeremy Thiessen, this weekend! So great. Here are some pictures from the race!

 About a half mile to go!!

 Seriously could not have done this race without Kerry!

 My brother, Mike, and brother-in-law, Josh.

 Ny brother, Mike.

 The three Haimiltons who did the race!

 Hamilton Family

A childhood friend, Tim, also ran the race!

Thanks for all your support!

A Monstrous Jump And A Journey To Health

For those of you who know me, you know that I've struggled with my weight for a long time. Everyone has struggles of their own and many struggles you can hide, but a struggle with weight and food is not something you can hide - especially when you get to the size that I was. Many of you know that I started a journey towards good health this past fall. I had struggled to lose five pounds doing different things on my own and I was frustrated. When I heard about Tidewater Bariatrics, I figured I'd give it a shot. I have lost 72 pounds through Tidewater Bariatrics (77 pounds overall). I have 13 more pounds to lose before I get to my goal weight and I'm feeling great! To read more of my story and journey of weight-loss, go to amonstrousjump.blogspot.com. Below are two pictures - one from when I started at Tidewater Bariatrics and one from this past week - that's a 72 pound weight difference!

9.21.13 190lbs                           7.16.13 118lbs

Part of how I have managed to lose weight is through exercise. I started with a lot of swimming. In the last few months, I have started running. A few weeks ago I ran my first 5K supporting Young Life Capernaum in Hampton Roads. My time was 27:08 - my fastest 5K time yet! My next goal is to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon!

Now that I have done some big and great things for myself, I would like to do some great things for others. I have joined a racing team called  C-4 Racing. C-4 Racing is a racing team that raises financial support through running, swimming, and biking races (or all of the above) for Young Life Capernaum. Capernaum is Young Life geared towards teens and young adults with disabilities. My hope is that I would have friends and family who would support me financially to run the Virginia Beach Rock and Roll Half Marathon Labor Day weekend. All the money I raise by running this half marathon will go directly to supporting the mission of  Young Life Capernaum. My hope is to raise $5000 for Young Life Capernaum. Will you join my team and support me as I run this race?

In order to give financially please go to http://www.razoo.com/story/Virginia-Beach-Rock-And-Roll-Half-Marathon. If you have any questions please feel free to email me at  hamilton.ash@gmail.com.

Thank you everyone for your love and support!

Laughter In The Rain

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you

face trials of many kinds because you know the testing

of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance

must finish its work so that you may be mature and

complete, not lacking anything."

-James 1:2-4

These are a few of the verses that I have been meditating on for the last 13/14ish months. My brother, Kory, and I started memorizing the book of James last February/March. This last year and a half has been kind of a dark season for me in a lot of ways. I have said countless times that one day this season is going to start making sense and I'm going to start having joy in this journey and this season is going to teach me and I'm going to be better because of this season. Our mantra for this season has been the Lord is good. All the time.

Monday morning I started out on the craziest 30 hour road trip ever. You can find the pictures on facebook. I went on a road trip with my dear, sweet friend Janelle. She was in town visiting family and had to get up to Rockbridge on Monday. So off we went in the pouring rain. 2 1/2 hours into the trip I get a flat tire and we go to change it and we don't have all the tools needed to get the job done. Both of our AAA services have expired. We're stuck. This nice man from Bathe Co., Brian, stops to help us. Not too long after that we stop for lunch and realize that our spare is flat. We go get a new tire and fix the spare. Then get back on the road and get to camp. The trip home, by myself, was just as entertaining. The great thing though was that we (and then I, when I was by myself) were able to laugh the whole way through it! And it wasn't hard. It was so ridiculous and could have been so awful. But in all the things that my life has looked like in the last year and a half this, yes not so fun or convenient, was really not so bad. It was really entertaining - especially with a friend! And it could have been so sucky depending on how I cared to view it.

This road trip was so sweet. Lots of good talks catching up with this dear friend. Lots of laughter with her. Also I got to talk to my brother Monday night and we were talking about things he was able to see/learn in/from the Lord and we were both in tears. Good tears.  So sweet to see the Lord work in and through people that I care about and love so much. I had some sweet time with the Lord in the car on the way home yesterday. In spite of all the things that "went wrong" the Lord still showed up (He always does) and He made himself known.

I had a quick, two minute phone chat with my brother yesterday morning on the side of the road just to say that the Lord is still good. All the time. So true!