Our little ticking clock below ran away faster than any one of us could have anticipated, including the Chicago Marathon office! Registration is now closed and since we have no post-close spots, we can not register any new people desiring to run the marathon. :(

So the next question is WHAT NOW??

Well, if you're at all like me, I was pretty bummed. My first year on the job and I was pumped to reach our goal of 35+ runners. Competitiveness runs in my family and I was ready to take on the challenge. However, you can't cry over spilt milk. You can't stick a square peg into a round hole. You can't run for Family Empowerment Centers AND run Chicago Marathon 2012. So what can you do?

You still have a few options:

• If you or a friend/family member is already signed up for the Chicago Marathon, they can still run for our team!! Get the word out. Use your voice. Like our facebook page. Have them email carrie@familyempower.org

• You can pick another marathon/half marathon/10k to run for us and we will assist you with fundraising and training. We already have 2 people running the Milwaukee marathon for us the same weekend as Chicago and we are hoping to represent in other races in the near future as well.

• You can support our runners through encouragement, running with them, and supporting them financially.

• You can volunteer with us on race day, as we cheer on the 11 people on our team!

• Finally, if you are really, really addicted to the Chicago Marathon running experience (and who can blame you!), you can click here to run for a different charity. If you do this, you do have a minimum amount you must raise depending on the charity. Many of them can be kind of high, but it is doable. As much as this would sadden us and we would desire you to run a different race for us, we will support your decision. And maybe even cheer for you on race day! ;)

• Finally, we are starting our first ever Family Fun Run/5k/10k race in Rogers Park Chicago this summer! We would love you to bring the whole family out, run for us, volunteer, and enjoy the day!! 

These are some awesome ways to support us! A visit or volunteering your gifts are always welcome as well! And get geared up for next year. Start deciding now if you want to run. Join our team early. Who knows how quickly it will fill up next time.

Blessings,

Carrie

Wow! It's almost time to start signing up for Chicago Marathon 2012. February 1st at 12PM is when it all begins. We are looking for fundraisers and funrunners alike to make up our Chicago Marathon 2012 Family Empowerment Team! Not only can you run to achieve a huge lifetime goal of completing a marathon; you can run to help care for at risk, urban families through supporting Family Empowerment Centers' work here in the Rogers Park community of Chicago.

​The process is simple: 1) Let us know you want to run for us. 2) Register through the Chicago Marathon website or through us on Feb. 1st. 3) We'll walk you through the rest!

Not sure if you're ready to take that big step of running a marathon? No problem. Email us at info@familyempower.org or give us a call at 773-262-0760. We'd love to answer any of your questions and support you in the process. Also, one of the best ways to recruit more runners/fundraisers is through encouraging friends, family and co-workers. Even if you do not like running your friends might. An easy way to do this is to Like Team Family Empowerment on Facebook  and invite your friends to as well. The more networks we are in the more potential runners raising funds for the Family Empowerment Centers.

In 2011, the Chicago Marathon closed on March 3rd. It may close even earlier this year, so don't wait!

Our runners finished strong in the Chicago Marathon this year. Here are their superb finishing times:                           

Stephen Greenhalge: 3:31:34; Dan Lamberson 3:47:05; John Lewis: 4:02:53; Valerie Garrison: 4:08:33; Ben McKevitt: 4:09:22; Calu Ostrander, Jason Ostrander, Anita Heath: 4:15:04; Matt Ruta: 4:16:08; Rob DeLano: 4:38:11; Paul Showalter: 4:54:14; Ken Garrison: 5:00:12; DeLeon Rainey: 5:30:44; Loren Oury: 5:38:15; Megan Clingman: 5:58:21

For more results and finishing places go to: http://results.public.chicagomarathon.com/2011/

Get ready for Chicago Marathon 2012! Also, Family Empowerment Center is hoping to have a Family Fun Run and 5k/10k race in our own neighborhood this spring/summer. If a marathon seems a little much, please consider joining us! If you are interested, let us know: http://www.familyempower.org/registering-to-run. This will give us an idea of people's interest. More details to come...

Thanks for those running and supporting us and the people in our neighborhood. Keep us in your prayers. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." ~Ephesians 6:12 

Grace be with you,

Carrie

Awe inspiring day at the Chicago marathon! 17 of our runners got out there to run their hearts out and 15 finished in this 80 degree heat! They ran times between 3:31 and 5:58 and were supported by 40 volunteers, mainly youth from Blanchard Road Alliance. Great to have such committed donors, supporters, and runners willing to run 26.2 miles to raise funds for our cause. If you would like to donate, it's not too late! Click a runner you know or any and you will be supporting our marathon team with all $ going straight to FECC. (If you can't choose a person, then select our staff member Rob DeLano). We're so proud of all our runners: Megan Clingman, Rob DeLano, Ken and Valerie Garrison, Stephen Greenhalge, Ron and Anita Heath, Dan Lamberson, John Lewis, Ben McKevitt, Jason and Calu Ostrander, Loren Oury, DeLeon Rainey, Matt Ruta, Paul Showalter, and Scott Stirrett.Time to start planning for next year! Any takers? :)

Carrie

"Top results are reached only through pain. But eventually you like the pain. You'll find the more difficulties you have on the way, the more you will enjoy your success."

Can you believe that the Chicago Marathon is only 10.5 hours away? Come out and join us!

For those of you looking to serve and encourage on marathon day, click on this post to see the attached information at the bottom of the page. This has the spots along the way that Family Empowerment will be cheering on our team, as well as walking maps to each location!! We will have a banner and be wearing our team shirts. Wear yours if you have one! We will be between miles 1 and 2, close to mile 17, and at the last curve into the finish. For runners, who will be looking for us for encouragement, see the attached as well! You should have it in email form too. Hope to see you there! And if not, hope YOU see US there! :)

Blessings,

Carrie

"There will come a point in the race when you alone will need to decide. You will need to make a choice. Do I really want it? You will need to decide."

Got my 20 in this week. Strange how something can feel so good and very painful at the same time. It’s been humbling to have to readjust my goal for this year, but if I can take 30 minutes off last year’s time I’ll be content. 

Grace be with you, Rob DeLano

Hello runners and supporters!

It’s about time to get this blog started! With 3 weeks to go, let’s use this blog to encourage, support, and pray for one another. Runners, if you would like to post on our blog, go ahead and send me your post, at Carrie@familyempower.org. I am a new employee with Family Empowerment Center and will be taking on the role as the Marathon Coordinator. I am a past runner, so I look forward to joining you in this venture! If you have any questions about fundraising or the race, please let me know. It is not too late to begin fundraising. I encourage you to use this time before and after the race to encourage others to support Family Empowerment Center by supporting you. Supporters, you are a part of the race, just like our runners, regardless of whether you support through prayer, encouragement, volunteering, or making a financial contribution. This blog is a way for you to stay involved with the runners up until the race and following after. We welcome your comments and encouragement to our runners through this blog. If this is your first time checking out our page, and you don’t know any of our runners, you can make a general contribution to our marathon team through contacting me. Go Team Family Empowerment!!

Carrie Waterman

“Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle... when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”

We are beginning an experimental blog to allow our runners to post news and updates regarding their training and to ask questions of other team members.  The only catch is you need to send the blog post to info@familyempower.org and we will post it within the blog.  We will have it open for comments and we will monitor it to make sure that the comments made are appropriate for the purpose of the page.  We have a limited number of post marathon spots still available so let all your runner friends know they can still enter the 2011 Chicago Marathon.