Prologue

It is 3 days before the begining of the last cycling event of my cycling season, 4 days before the end of that season, and the 5th day will be day 1 of my Marathon training.
My sport of choice is bicycling, but I have signed up to run the marathon here in Houston come January. Part of the reason I signed up is because I always wanted to run one of these, even though I hate running. I also wanted to do it before I was 30. I turn 30 in June.
Another reason I wanted to do this is because children who are in an abusive household don't necessarily know anything different. They don't know that home is not supposed to be a place you go to collect a beating. They don't know that it's not normal for you mom's boyfriend to hide his crack in your backpack so that he doesn't go to jail. They don't know that your parents are supposed to be the ones who provide for you and care for you rather than neglect, abuse, and hospitalize you.
In short, they don't know there's something better. They don't know there's an alternative to long for, and consequently have no option other than to be content with where they are and what's happening to them. It's just normal for them.
I, on the other hand, know what it's like to not run. I don't run on a regular basis, and I like not running. I have the choice to hate running, because I know what the condition of not running is. So I am volunteering to do something I dislike vehemently so that 4500 children in Harris County, their children, and their children's children can know that they shouldn't be content with the circumstances they're forced to live in. I'm doing it so that they have an opportunity to not just be content, but to have a vibrant, fulfilled, new life free from fear of their supposed protectors. I'm doing it so that they can look back and thank God that their life is now different rather than assume their former condition is just normal. I'm doing it so that the smiles--genuine smiles, full of joy--can return to the faces of abused children.

I'm doing something.

I start training on Monday... or at least my schedule starts on Monday. Saturday and Sunday I'll be riding my bike 150 miles, so I may take Monday off.
You can help by contributing something... anything... to the cause at www.childadvocates.org
Not a dime goes to me. Not a dime goes to processing or overhead. It all goes to the organization and the kiddos.