Running A Full Marathon

Back in February a friend told me that I should enter the lottery to get into the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. and my first reaction was "No way!" I had just signed up to run the Nashville Half Marathon and had  no desire to train for a full marathon! Well I have one persistent friend! Finally said I would enter the lottery with no thought - or desire - to make the lottery. I got in. And I was stunned! About a week after I got the email saying I was in, I started getting excited about the idea of running a full marathon.

Then the Nashville Half came. And it was hilly. Really hilly. There was 7 up hills in the first mile alone. And my first thought was: "DC is hilly. Mile 25 is all up hill. What am I thinking?" As hard as Nashville was, it was also a really fun race. At the end of the race I thought "I could handle running this course again!" I must be crazy! Here are some of my highlights from Nashville:

So here I am training for a full marathon. I ran my first double digit run today - 11 - and wrapped week four of training. The Marine Corps Marathon is October 26th and I'm real excited about running my first full marathon! I'm also running two half marathons this fall as part of my training for the full. 

With all this being said, I am sure y'all are not surprised that I am raising money for Young Life Capernaum with this "fall tour of running". My goal is $5000 and there is there just over 3 months til the grand finale of the fall running tour. Would you consider supporting me in this new goal of a full marathon? If you would like to support me and Young Life Capernaum go to:

http://www.razoo.com/story/The-Fall-Half-Marathon-Marathon-Tour

Also I've entered a contest to be on the cover of Runner's World Magazine. I need votes to be considered! Here's my second shameless plug: will you please vote for me? You can vote once a day through August 26th here:

http://covercontest.runnersworld.com/entry/1173


Updates coming soon!

Another Half Marathon Is In The Works!

Sorry for the lack of blogging, but.....Yes, my friends, you read that correctly! I am running another half marathon! Nashville here I come! I'm excited about running another 13.1 miles! I'm a bit worried about the hills that Nashville has to offer since Virginia Beach is pretty much known for four things: it's beach, it's humidity, jet noise, and the fact that it's super flat. I am planning on taking some of my training runs over to the rather glorious, and aptly named, Mount Trashmore to train with some hills. Also my Dad is having open heart surgery up at Mt. Sinai in Manhattan on March 6th. Mt. Sinai is located right across the street from Central Park and I'm really excited to go for a run up there. I'm just sad that the tv show Friends has been over for like 10 years and the fact that it's fictional because, if you know me, I'd be right there at Central Perk hanging out with my six friends. Slightly obsessed. I know.

Since the last time I've blogged, I've run several races. I just wanted to share a few pictures.

I was dressed as Where's Waldo for the Wicked 10K

here in Virginia Beach in October. It was a blast! 

The very next weekend in November I ran the Color Me Rad

5K with my friends Elissa, Jen, Rosann, and Josh. It was a fun,

mellow race to run with friends! Lots of fun memories!

A few weeks after that I ran a 10K on Thanksgiving morning and in December I ran a 5K in Chesapeake to support Young Life there!

So if you remember my blog post from before the Virginia Beach Half Marathon, you'd remember I was raising money for Young Life Capernaum through C-4 Racing. Well, my friends, I am back at it. And this time I am helping to raise money to send our dear friends with disabilities to a week of Young Life Camp. For many of these friends, they have never been to summer camp before nor have they been away from their parents or care givers before. And paying for a week of camp is hard for many of these friends. So going to camp is just a dream for a lot of them. And if this isn't enough, they will get to hear the Word of Christ while away at camp. What more could you ask for? My goal is to raise $5000 to put towards Campership. Will you help me send our Capernaum friends to camp?

If you'd like to contribute to my race and help send these kids to camp, please go to Rock and Roll Nashville Half Marathon Fundraiser. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at hamilton.ash@gmail.com.

Also I've talked with my friend Jeremy, who is the founder of C-4 Racing, and we would both love to see C-4 grow into a larger racing company. We could definitely use some help! If you would like to be apart of that on the business end of things or to join the team on the racing end of things, Jeremy and/or myself would love to chat with you. Again, feel free to email me at hamilton.ash@gmail.com.

I am thankful for all of you and the impact you've had on my life! Thank you!

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!

Being Crafty

So many of you will remember the superhero tshirt blanket that I made this summer for my nephew, Christian. If you need a little reminder, click here. I am so not crafty. I had never used a sewing machine before this project. However, I was determined to learn something new. And therefore I did. I will say that I was impressed with myself. While my projects are not perfect and I would not call myself a sewing expert, I am way more confident with my abilities now! Not only did I make a blanket for my nephew, Christian Brody, I also made two more for my nephews, Jack and Luke. Same process as before, but they turned out better than Christain's. Sorry Christian! I gave these blankets to Jack and Luke for Christmas. Here they are!

So not only did I make three superhero tshirt blankets, I also made a blanket for my nephew Wyatt who turned 9 months old on Christmas day. I knew he would not love a superhero blanket as much as his brother, I decided to make one a little easier. I unfortunately did not take pictures during the process for documentation, so I will give you a brief run down. I grabbed two different fabrics from Joann Fabrics, both a yard in length. I pinned them together right side out and cut off any excess then sewed all the way around. That was the easy part. Then I got this silk border and my mom helped me get it on all neatly and the corners in place. She is better at that stuff - making things look good. Then I sewed that down and called it good. It was a little trickier then it sounds, but it was my first blanket of this kind so I think the next time I do this.

 Here is one side - if you cannot see it well - those are multi-colored

circles on an off white/cream background with the blue silk border.

 The flip side is that fun fabric with the bubbles, if you will. I do

not know what it is really called...

This is what it looks like together.

So yes, now I am definitely more confident with a sewing machine and I actually enjoy using it. I am in no way an expert. Now I am definitely ready for the shooting range. Kory, you can help with this when I come back out the Ranch, right?

A Year Later

One year ago today at about this time, I was sitting in the Applebees in Redmond, Oregon with my dearest friends (and siblings) and their kids before they dropped me off at the airport with lots of tears on my end. It was the last thing I did before moving back to Virginia. The few weeks before I left had been such an emotionally heavy period of time and it was hard leaving the Canyon with all that was going on especially having my brother, Kory, still so busted from his accident and really having no clue what the Lord was trying to say or what He wanted the next phase in life to look like.

As I look back on this last year, I don't have a ton of answers for much. However I can say I have seen the Lord work and in some big ways - even in the last few days. Now more than ever, I can say that I am confident that Property Staff is where I am suppose to be. I also had a neat conversation last night with a dear friend about seeing and hearing the Lord through multiple, unrelated people with the same message - of being still before the Lord, letting the Lord give you peace, and becoming a Mary versus a Martha - which is always hard.

Something that I know that has remained a constant mantra for me this last year is the Lord is good. All the time. The Lord was good a year ago, 6 months ago when I left the Canyon after an amazing six week stay, He was good last week, today, tomorrow, next month, and next year.

In terms of my prayers for this next year (well preferably these next few weeks) I pray for complete healing for two sweet babies - Tucker and Ozzy and for complete healing for Kory so he can get back to work full time and life can be somewhat normal for him, Sara, and the kids. Also praying for a job in Property Staff. I would go anywhere if that is where the Lord wanted me, but if I could choose any camp, I would love more than anything to be back in the Canyon. I trust that the Lord has great things in store. Will y'all join me in prayer?