Pizza Day

Just had a crazy pizza day at work as a fundraiser. It was an amazing amount of work for only about a $10 profit when all was said and done, but it was still a lot of fun. Almost everyone participated, which was great. It also got a lot of people to donate 50 cents or a couple bucks more than they would have, so the actual profit was about $25.

My husband finally got off his butt and is selling raffle tickets at work (yay!). He just texted me and said he has sold $120 in tickets so far, which is awesome! I'm still selling them at work and I have extended the time that people can but them through the weekend, since I just found out our fundraising deadline was extended to this Tuesday. I will still be doing this drawing on Monday, since that was the original date for it.

I still have to add everything up, but overall our final 5 days or so of fundraising we will have raised probably about an additional $400 or so, which is a lot better than where we were at! It's actually seeming possible now that we will get pretty close to our goal, maybe we can even make it :) I'll keep everyone updated.

Doing every fundraiser possible

I am running with every fundraiser I can think of. Last night I went out with my husband and some friends to the streets and did some just straight up fundraising. We passed out beads and asked for money for our cause. We raised about $35. Not much, but better than nothing. It was hard finding a good location so we went with what we had.

Today is $2 Thursday. Anyone who donates $2 gets to pick a secret envelope. So far all I have in the envelopes is gift certs for a free hamburger from Carls Jr and a few Starbucks gift cards. I'm hoping to get some more things today before I go to work but I don't know. I was going to go around yesterday and collect up things for the envelopes but I had to watch my friends baby and I totally owe her.

Tomorrow is pizza Friday. I'm selling pizza at work for a small profit (it really won't be much but it's better than nothing). I also have my raffle ending tomorrow with some great prizes and my marathon finish time pool is supposed to end tomorrow, but I may just extend it until the marathon.

I will be sending out one more email to friends/family today asking for donations, and if I get really crazy I may go to Walmart during my lunch time and fundraise outside. :)

Did the famous "train run"

Wow! Today was crazy. We got up at 4:45 am, threw on our running gear, at a quick breakfast and headed out the door. We had to drop our daughter off at the baby sitter, then drive about 30-40 minutes to the train station in Solana Beach. We took the train to Carlsbad.

At that point, our crazy selves ran 18 MILES back to Solana Beach. 18 MILES!!! As usual, it was difficult, but I didn't die. I got a nice sun burn (note to self: sun block was invented for a reason), a blister on my foot (note to self: stick with the socks you always wear, don't try any more new socks), and of course my legs feel like I just ran 18 miles.

All in all, it was pretty fun! I know it's crazy but I'm out there DOING SOMETHING. I'm running to save lives, to help find a cure for cancer. I'm running for those who can't.

Now, fundraising...that's a different story. I'm getting frustrated about it again. I KNOW anyone could donate a couple bucks, but they DON'T! And I don't understand why! Especially my two oldest sisters, who I love dearly, but who have shown NO INTEREST in helping me whatsoever. They act like they don't even know what I'm doing. It was their mom who died, too. Not just my mom. I would think they would be a little more interested in helping out, especially since they are fully able to.

Once I start talking about money it seems like quite a few people act like they don't even know me. I don't understand this, but I probably never will. I just hope it somehow magically starts to go better. I wanted to totally surpass our fundraising goal but at the moment it looks like we won't even achieve our minimum...

I hope it starts to go better.

Silent auction updates

I'm beginning to get really excited about the silent auction. I still don't know if it will raise us enough money but we're off to a great start.

I secured the location completely, and the date I really wanted. It will be a Saturday night, which is great since I don't work on Saturdays. The location is fairly central and has a large space with nice hardwood floors.

I went to Vons today and they donated Vons gift cards which I can use for the food for the event, so that's covered. We don't have to pay anything for the location. I sent out my invite via facebook and started posting it on twitter. I will be getting some big flyers printed out to post in store windows, on bulletin boards, etc. I will also be printing out some 8 1/2 by 11 flyers to pass out at work, at my husbands work, and wherever else.

So it's coming along quite well. I want to have at least 100 people there and raise at least $1000 (MINIMUM). I'm actually going for over $1500 though, which I think is pretty doable if we promote correctly.

As a side note, I'm also really excited about it because it's essentially another art show for me. I haven't had an art show in about 1 1/2 years, and this will be my first "art show" in San Diego. So that, to me, is very exciting.

Our first restaurant fundraiser is tomorrow at Souplantation, so we'll see how that goes. I'm expecting the least turnout for that one, while expecting a large turnout for Rubios next Monday and for the other Souplantation in a week. I will keep everyone updated!

We just ran over 16 miles!

WOW, I can't believe we did that.

I've been sick for three days now with the flu, just barely beginning to feel better yesterday. Last night my husband and I both slept horribly! The baby was up a good portion of the night. Yet we still got up at 6 this morning, dropped her off at the baby sitter, and went out running along the harbor.

It was a beautiful run. My husband took off ahead of me, as usual. I paced myself well and didn't start to really feel the run until about mile 10. By mile 14 I wasn't sure if I could run anymore, but I did it. I kept going, running all the way through the end. I am so amazed at both my husband and I.

Of course my legs are EXTREMELY sore now and I can hardly walk, but I'm so proud of myself. I just have to realize every time I go run that there are people who CAN'T run. I am so lucky that I can run. I am proud at what I am doing, though I still think it's crazy. I am running and raising money to save lives. How many people can say that?

How many lives are my actions saving exactly? I have no idea. But I plan on doing this year after year, for as long as I can, to contribute as much as I can and save as many lives as possible.

Current update

The art auction went quite well, though I didn't reach my goal. I had wanted to raise about $500 and we raised about $300. Still, not bad all in all.

Next fundraiser is another opportunity drawing, coming up in 1 week. I need to start promoting it more and selling entries to the people at work/friends. I was waiting until the auction was over because it was a bit much promoting both at the same time.

Training is going better. I ran 11.2 miles today and am at a 24.25 miles for the week. I plan on doing another 2 miles or so tomorrow, putting it at about 27 miles for the week. Then I need to figure out how to increase my mileage next week.

The 11.2 mile run today went better than I thought it would. I was able to run a bit over 5 miles without stopping, and that included over 2 miles of hill, hill, hill. That killed me but I did it. I would still like to figure out how to start running faster, and longer, but all in all I think I'm doing fairly well. My husband also did the 11.2 mile run today and he did fantastic, even though he hasn't really been training. He finished it about 15 minutes before I did (totally not fair since I've been working so hard on training and he hasn't!!! But it is what it is). I was quite surprised.

I will keep everyone updated. I'm still looking for more fund raising ideas, so if anyone has any, feel free to pass them along. Thanks guys!