Dear Friends,
I turned 50 at the beginning of 2019 and plan to celebrate for the whole year by participating in 5 races to bring awareness to and raise funds for Every Mother Counts. My first race is coming up on March 3rd in Tanzania. This will be my third time since 2015 participating in the Kilimanjaro Marathon. I will be joining a team of 20 and will be running the half marathon distance. Next up is the Big Sur Marathon on April 28th in California, my birth state and also the most recent featured state in our Giving Birth In America documentary film series. Big Sur will be my 9th marathon since my first with Team EMC since its inception in 2011.
After that, I plan to participate in the Bridgehampton Half & 5K on May 11th over Mother’s Day weekend. On August 18th, I will run my first Falmouth Road Race in Provincetown, Massachusetts, finishing the year returning to run the NYC Marathon on November 3rd, for my 10th marathon final race of my 50th year. The NYC marathon will also be celebrating its 50th year anniversary.
This is a lot to take on but a challenge I am so willing to take to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother, everywhere. You can support me today or throughout the year.
Why I Run: One woman dies every two minutes bringing life into the world. That’s more than 303,000 mothers dying each year. The good news is, almost all global maternal deaths are preventable! With access to education and training, transportation, and supplies, we can greatly reduce the number of preventable deaths that occur during pregnancy, delivery and post-partum. Had I not had access to the care I received the day I became a mom, I would not have the opportunity to experience the wonder and joy of raising my own two healthy children today. Since I founded Every Mother Counts in 2010, I have put in thousands of miles to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother, everywhere. Since 2011, I have completed 8 full marathons, 12 half marathons and one 24-hour relay race. Team Run EMC has raised more than $4.5 million dollars to invest in community-led organizations in 7 countries that are dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safer. With your help, Every Mother Counts can continue to support the training and continued education of midwives and birth attendants, provide rides for thousands of mothers, equip healthcare providers with supplies that will help to ensure safer birth outcomes for moms and families around the world. For more information about running or partnering with us and other EMC events, please check out everymothercounts.org or sign up for our newsletter here.
I hope you will consider helping me reaching my goal. Thank you so much for your support!
Love,
Christy
