Huge progress despite minor setbacks

Apologies for the delayed blog. Prepping for and then enjoying the holidays can be rather time consuming! Before I launch into giving you a training update, I have amazing news: a huge TNT fundraising announcement to make. I just received an incredible $1500 corporate sponsorship from Deloitte Management Service LLP. I am absolutely thrilled! My sister works for this company and they offered the sponsorship in support of her, knowing that I am running to honour the memory of her late husband, Francois. What a beautiful gift to her from her workplace, and such a beautiful gift from one sister to another. I am ecstatic that this sponsorship will be acknowledged further by having their corporate logo screened on the back of my jersey and all jerseys of every one of my TNT teammates this summer as well. And I'm thrilled to know that there are companies that give back to the community and support worthy causes like the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.

I am so excited to see that I have now reached 79% of my fundraising goal of $4000 to benefit blood cancer research and patient services. 

Here is a photo of my sister, Sabana, presenting me with the cheque. We just happened to be dolled up for a pre-wedding gathering, so this picture is doubly awesome.

I also received a very generous corporate donation from BC Financial Solutions Wealth & Estate Planning, the financial planning firm co-owned by my brother, Nadir, and his business partner, Jackie. They are both fantastic at what they do,  and are committed to supporting their local community. They sponsored me both as a company and as individuals. Thank you!

In addition to the above-mentioned corporate sponsors, I would like to acknowledge the following family and friends for their recent sponsorship:

• My beautiful Auntie Gillian
• My dear cousin, Farah
• My cousin, Aamir, who I have not seen in ages!
• My wonderful friend from UBC days, Negin
• My cheerful friend and running buddy, Patti
• My cousin Faiz, Saeed's brother, whom I reconnected with in San Francisco this past October
• My lovely running friend, Jess
• My hilarious brother-in-law, Morgan
• My good friend and TNT alumna, Rebecca
• All the many friends and colleagues who purchased prints of my artwork! I've made close to $600 in art sale profits to benefit my fundraising!

Thank you! You've all helped me exceed my goal of raising $2000 in 2012, getting me to 50% of my total goal of $4000. But as I'm now well over $3000 raised, I have decided to ambitiously raise my total goal, to $5000. I'm already 63% of the way there. What do you think? Why raise $4000, when I can raise $5000. I already have myself in some public markets to sell my art work and have ideas brewing in mind for some events.

As for my training update... my other goal for 2012 was to run 2000km for the year. It should have been no issue to get there, and surpass it in healthy fashion, but December 2012 has proven to be a month of setbacks. First my left foot where I have a bunion started to give me severe pain. I had to stay clear of running for a good week while it calmed down. I think I was running a bit too long in my New Balance 880 shoes, with over 600km on them. They seemed ok, but clearly weren't; I knew I was pushing it a bit.  Since taking them out of rotation, running only in newer shoes, and regularly icing my foot, the pain is gone and my foot feels as though it is back to normal. 

But then this past Saturday, setback number 2 took place. I went out for a run with some friends and we ended up on an icier street than what we imagined it would be. Right in front of a police station (of all places, the sidewalks weren't cleared of the snow, which turned into a sheet of ice after days of cold rain.  While I slowed down considerably and tried to watch my footing, I slipped badly and landed harder on my tailbone than I ever have. I feared I broke or fractured my tailbone, but it is clear I was lucky to just get a bad bruise. Not a comfortable thing for running! I tried a short run a couple days later but it felt terrible. Yesterday I went a bit further and the 8km I ran didn't entirely suck, until I went downhill and gravity was doing its thing. I'm confident I'll feel better soon, and I'm just 11km shy of the 2000km goal. I'll get that in no time at all with a few days to get there.

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Please support my TNT journey by following my blog here. If you wish to sponsor my fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada, please click the "sponsor me" button on this web page, or visit www.tinyurl.com/runwithzahida

Every $50 donation made before February 1st enters your name into a draw to win an iPad mini