SAN ANTONIO – Boerne resident Wendy Valentic just had bilateral hip replacement surgery six months ago, but she is preparing to complete the Run The Alamo marathon on Sunday.
Valentic said she did not want to miss out on running this weekend's marathon, which is also how she is raising thousands of dollars for children who do not have access to clean water.
Valentic said her running career started five years ago when she was at an all-time low after getting out of an abusive marriage. That's when Team World Vision came into her life.
"They asked me -- someone who felt like they had nothing to give -- to run a half or full marathon on behalf of vulnerable children in Africa,” said Valentic.
Team World Vision is a group of runners who take on the challenge of running marathons to raise money to help provide clean water to kids in Africa.
Valentic made it her personal mission to help children as well and with Team World Vision. She has completed two half-marathons and two full-marathons, raising more than $10,000.
In the process of running, Valentic started "hurting."
"As I’m running, I’m in such pain and it’s just getting worse and worse, and it’s not going away,” Valentic said. "Until finally, at the very end of my last marathon, I couldn’t walk.”
Valentic didn't realize it at the time, but she had a congenital hip deformity. She asked her orthopedic surgeon for a "bilateral hip replacement."
Valentic underwent surgery in August, but she didn't want to give up the marathon, so she started "training" with a walker.
“Runners typically do 5- to 10- to 8-minute miles. My starting point for training for this marathon was 40-minute miles," Valentic said. "I could barely walk.”
Valentic will "race-walk" the entire 26.2 miles of Sunday's "Run The Alamo Marathon" in hopes of raising $26,200 to help children.
Valentic said that, over the last two years, 8 million people received clean water through Team World Vision.
If you'd like to get involved, World Vision's Global 6K for water is coming up on May 4.
Those who are inspired to run can register now at worldvision6k.org.
If you can't run, you can still donate at worldvision.org or Valentic's fundraising page.