On Sunday, August 16th, my husband and I are doing a sprint triathlon in Upstate New York. This is my first triathlon and I have been training for the past couple of months. It has been be a grueling, yet wonderful experience so far.
The triathlon consists of 19.5 miles of swimming, biking and running. Give $1 per mile to donate $20 to support low income entrepreneurs work their way out of poverty through my 6 month Kiva fellowship in Latin America. Read more about that in this blog post.
My Kiva Fellowship
The Kiva Fellow is an unpaid, volunteer-based position designed to increase Kiva’s impact around the world. The Kiva Fellow works directly with one of Kiva’s partner microfinance institutions (MFIs). The Kiva Fellow is an integral part of the Kiva Team, acting as Kiva’s eyes and ears in the field and helping to extend limited resources to maximum effect.
The Kiva Fellow interviews and create profiles of entrepreneurs so lenders like you can read about their situation and lend them capital to start or expand their business. Without the Kiva Fellow, there would be no entrepreneur profiles on the Kiva website, no journal updates about their work and virtually no connection between the business owner and the lender. Through her fieldwork and communication, the Kiva Fellow fosters the link between the borrower, MFI, Kiva and the lender.
Profile of one of the successful loans in Lethal Sheethal's Kiva portfolio
I will be working with one of Kiva’s partner MFIs in Latin America for 6 months from October – April. Read more details about the fellowship in my blog post here.
If you would like to donate online, click the button to visit my Chip In page -
Chip In for My Kiva Fellowship
Or if you feel more comfortable writing a check please send to -
Sheethal Shobowale
311 Cumberland Street
Brooklyn, NY 11238
If you are in the upstate New York area and like to wake up early, here are the details to come cheer me on! I definitely need it. It’s going to be serious!
24th Annual NEW YORK TRIATHLON SERIES
Swim-½ mi. Bike-16 mi. Run-3 mi.
Lake Sebago, Harriman State Park <–link to Google Maps
6:30-7:30 a.m. – Check-in. new entries, packet pick-up
7:45 a.m. – Course orientation, final race instructions
8:00 a.m. – Race Start
10:30 a.m. – Course closes, Raffle, Awards presentation
I will be throwing a Rooftop BBQ Going Away Party in mid-September to say farewell to friends and thank supporters. Even if you aren’t able to donate, I hope you can join! Details to come.
Thanks for listening and for your support!
Best,
Sheethal
Mountain Bike Triathlon Training
Posted by Support two great marathoners for one great cause: Kiva « Zimana Blog on August 15, 2009 at 10:08 am
[...] Please support her in this cool effort! If you would like to make a donation, see Sheethal’s blog post. You can also learn about Kiva [...]
Posted by lethalsheethal on August 17, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Pics –
Tokumbo starting the swim
If you flip through a couple in this area of the gallery, you’ll see a couple of him running in the water
Tokumbo’s finish
Sheethal’s finish
Results – Search for Shobowale to see our times
Tokumbo was 29th place in the M 35-39 division and 159th overall at 1:48:47.77 (with his high-tech 35-year-old steel bike. no need for a fancy racing bike for him!) Ask him about the comments he got about his bike – apparently he rode with style
Sheethal was 10th in the F 25-29 division and 224th overall at 2:10:24.34
To put this perspective, the winner did the whole tri in 1:09. Wow, some people are amazing athletes.
I am most proud of my running training and that I did a 3 mile run in 25 minutes – My fastest time ever thanks to Tokumbo’s motivational encouragement!
Falling off my bike the day before the event wasn’t an ideal part of training, but it was a great experience having a training goal and participating in this event!
My triathlon takeaway: Put your mind to it and you can accomplish a lot!