Message #9 From Your Artful Mentor

Hello, my marvelous marathoning mentees. ‘Tis I, your Artful Mentor, with my weekly madcap message for you. I learned something tonight that turned me green with envy, and which will delight you – there are going to be 33 participants from Virginia in San Diego for the race, including the seven of you. Oh how cool that will be for you all. You will paint the town purple and green! Now, aren’t you glad that you recommitted?

For tonight’s message, I want to share just a couple of things, and then next week, we will get back to additional fundraising topics. My goal with my messages last week and this was to give your words of encouragement and positive attitude, starting last week with the poem “It Couldn’t be Done.”

Thing #1: I am meeting Lauren at 7PM tomorrow at the Willow Lawn Panera to talk fundraising. Please join us if you (a) are short on fundraising (b) are doing great and have ideas to share or (c) just want to hang out with some teammates. Please let me know if you are coming.

Thing #2: There will be a team fundraising event at California Pizza on April 22. Cate will have more details, but your fundraising will get credited 20% of business that you personally bring in to the restaurant that day.

Thing # 3: Last chance to do a March Madness fund raising party coming up. Get some friends to help and get creative to invite friends to the Big Dance while raising money to fight blood cancers.

Thing #4: I will not be at training this weekend. Remember to let one of the coaches (Chuck, Walter, or Betty) know any time you cannot make it.

At times, the idea of having recommitting to finish a long distance race and having to raise thousands of dollars is going to feel impossible. But it is not. Keep taking actions each day, and you will get there. Believe in yourself – that is half the battle. I will leave you with these words:

"You Can and You Will"

It’s easy to say
That there’s simply no way
To succeed and you’re at a standstill
But go for it now
And I think that somehow
You’ll find that you can and you will

Someday you might find
That deep in your mind
Comes the thought that you can’t climb that hill
But if you dig deep inside
With all of your pride
Then I tell you, you can and you will

Some people will rant
And shout loudly “You can’t!”
And grave doubt in your mind they’ll instill
Be resolved and take heart
For what sets you apart
Is believing you can and you will

Put your fears on the shelf
And have faith in yourself
If your goals you’re to ever fulfill
With a difficult chore
You can give up or soar
So believe that you can, and you will.

Go and set your goals high
Give things your best try
And don’t listen to nay-sayers shrill
For you never will know
How far you can go
If you don’t say “I can and I will”

Go Team!
Your Artful Mentor