Update!!
Thanks to everyone for their support! I ran the marathon on Sunday and was able to finish despite an ankle injury at mile 13 and an asthma attack at mile 16 (which was never happened to me before!). I ran the first half pretty well, even faster than expected, but the second half was a real struggle and I ended up crossing the finish line only a few minutes before the course was set to close. But I did it and have the medal to prove it! It was tough but a real adventure and I´m very glad to have done it. It´s a great way to see a city! Thanks again for your support and for supporting Arkansas hospice Foundation!
About Me
My name is Sarah Geiger. I´m a 27 year-old Peace Corps Volunteer living in Paraguay. I´m training to run the Buenos Aires Marathon on October 12, 2008 to benefit Arkansas Hospice Foundation!!!!
Why Running?
I live 20 miles from paved roads in a very small community. Cars are few and far between and buses are sporadic and infrequent at best. I rely mostly on biking and walking for my transportation. I don´t have a lot of options for transportation, but what I do have in abundance is roads--dirt roads, to be exact, as far as I can run or bike in both directions right outside my house.
Early in my service I got really frustrated with the isolation of my community. A simple trip to town to buy groceries is an all-day event even if everything goes right. But one especially frustrating day my outlook changed. I had gotten up before sunrise to wait for hours on the side of the road for a bus that never came. It wasn´t the first time this had happened and I knew it wouldn´t be the last. I felt helpless and controlled by my circumstances. I had been staring impatiently at the horizon, looking for the bus to appear, but I finally resigned myself to the fact that it wasn´t coming.
Then I began to look at the road itself and the land around it; a rust-orange ribbon snaking through gentle hills and endless fields. It came to me in a flash of insight: I could grumble and complain for two years or I could make the isolation work for me. I enjoy outdoor activities and I had been wanting to get in better shape for some time, and right there outside my door was miles and miles of choice dirt track for biking and running. ¨People drive for hours in the US to spend their Saturdays in terrain like this!¨I told myself. ¨So what´s stopping you?¨
To make a long story short, I got over my bad attitude and in July 2007 I started going on sunset runs a few days a week. This was entirely new territory for me, I´d never even thought about running before, but somehow I knew that this was what I had to do. I was out of shape and it was hard at first, but I kept at it. I began to look forward to my runs, and eventually came to love them. And that gave me a reason to love those isolated, endless roads as well.
Why Arkansas Hospice Foundation?
Before joining Peace Corps I lived in Little Rock, AR and worked as an Administrative Assistant at Arkansas Hospice Foundation. I saw firsthand what a compassionate, effective and well-run organization it is. The work they do is truly amazing and I believe they represent the hospice approach to end-of-life care with excellence.
The hospice care movement is important to everyone because it is about compassion. Its emphasis on quality of life over quantity of life is an important and necessary shift in thinking about both end-of-life care and the medical system as a whole. I have also personally seen the impact of hospice care with members of my own family, and I know that it changes lives.
I am proud to be running to benefit this great cause. When I am struggling through the final miles of the race, I will be thinking of the nurses and social workers, the friends and families who face such enormous obstacles with grace, dignity and unbelievable strength of character. They are the ones who really know about strength and endurance; what I´m doing is only minor compared to that. Please make a donation in support of Arkansas Hospice and my marathoning by clicking on the ¨Donate Now¨ button!
Thank you for your support!
Sarah Geiger