We are racing for Naba.  There is a handful of women from the Merced and Mariposa County communities that have joined together to raise funds for this wonderful little girl. She has such a struggle to face every single day that is hard to fathom, but we want her to know that there are people in the world – in America of all places – that care for her and wish her nothing but peace.

What Motivates You?  The Little Purple Dot.
My training partner, Sarah, and I, have been riding our road bikes (mine is borrowed from my very generous friend Anne) for 2 months now, and have seen great improvements in our ability to ‘go the distance’.  This last Sunday, we rode 20.5 miles!  This includes 3 ‘holy moly!’ hills that I never thought I could do.

As I was pedaling along, quite far behind Sarah (I don’t know how she just keeps going!), I was thinking about what motivates me.  The first, of course, was Naba.  She is an innocent, and I wish nothing more than for her to have happiness in this life.  Quite a feat at this point, I am sure.
The second motivating factor was the little purple dot about _ of a mile in front of me.  That dot was Sarah.  I knew that if I could catch up with her, I would have human contact again!  I am the last of 8 kids and don’t entirely like being alone.  And out there on that beautiful open stretch of country road, you can actually feel like the only person for miles… or _ of one.
The third motivator was that I was really cold, if you can believe that!  It was only a little after 7 a.m. (yes, I am THAT committed!) and the sun wasn’t over some of the ridges behind us and I was freezing!  Zooming along at 40 mph (just a guess) can be quite chilly when dressed for the low 100’s!

Moving Forward
We have 5! weeks until the triathlon, so we are in crunch time!!!  We need to sell a LOT of t-shirts (see photos on this page).  Every t-shirt dollar goes to Naba since they were paid off from our previous fundraisers.  PLEASE help us by buying a tee or baby romper or baby tee.  They are pretty cool AND they spread the message of peace!  Contact Amelia at abiagi@hotmail.com for details.
We will be at a table at the Mariposa Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays for the next 5 weeks if any locals would like to come buy a t-shirt, donate, or learn more about Naba.
If you are from out of town and would like to also donate online, there is a link on this page to PayPal.  Please remember to put Naba/Triathlon in the comment box (I think that is what it is called) so that the funds go directly to Naba.  If there is no comment, it will go into the general No More Victims fund.  We would also like to use this to keep track of how much we raise online.
Thank you SO much from the bottom of our hearts.  We can’t do this without you.  Please feel free to pass this message on to others if you think they are interested in helping.  We hope to help this innocent little girl heal and move forward.  She deserves that chance, at the very least.  Thank you!