Nike Women's Half Marathon

It's that time of year again.  Time to sign up for the Nike Half Marathon in San Francisco.  I would love a second chance at that race.  Without a broken foot.  I'd love to visit that city again.  I'd love to get another Tiffany necklace.  I'd love to see the views.  I'd love to take a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.  The boot and the overwhelming pain the day after the race prevented that.  Well, that and I didn't know about it until the day after. 

As an alumni I would only have to raise $2950.  Not exactly a good deal for me since last time I only had to raise $2500.  But certainly cheaper than $3500 all the newbies have to raise.  But....I can't fund raise again.  You all don't want me to.  My friends, neighbors, and family don't want me to.  All the people I've ever known in my life that have an address I can find don't want me to.  I know people are tired of seeing my letters in their mailbox, and inbox, and seeing me in person.  Fund raising twice in a little over two years is a bit too much.  I know.  But to those of you who gave me money for either one, I am so eternally grateful.  I loved doing my part to help find a cure.

But I don't feel like I'm done with these organizations.  Since I lost my mom and grandma to breast cancer my loyalties lie there.  So I will continue to run the Race for the Cure every year.  But someone questioned me when they heard I was doing so much for leukemia research and asked why I didn't do that for breast cancer research.  I really didn't know what to say to that.  Then I found out that a drug that was funded by a LLS grant by TNT raised money is being used for breast cancer.  There you go, it's all working together.  That made me feel so much better. 

But, I still can't fund raise again.  So when I got an e-mail asking if I'd help plan the kick-off program, I was all for it.  After two meetings picking themes, colors, decorations, and food, last night it all came together.  I was in charge of pictures.  Fitting, don't you think?  I took pictures from previous races, turned them black and white, and then re-colored in one or two colors.  Since we run in purple singlets, it was an easy choice.  I then had them printed and matted them on colorful scrapbook paper.  I'd love to show you pictures of this...but I didn't take any.  Want to know why?

Because I was taking pictures of, and eating, these.

Holy calorie load Batman, they were fabulous.  The amazing Ruth made them.  She is a leukemia survivor and an award winning baker, cake decorator, and sugar artist.  Click here to read more about her.  The last paragraph is my favorite.  She's done 5 of the last 7 Nike races.  So her necklace collection?  Amazing.  She wears them all on one chain with spacers between them.  So to entice people to sign up, she put a edible silver charm that exactly matched each necklace on a cookie, on top of the amazing parfait.  Why she weighs about 70 pounds I'll never understand.  She must not eat anything that she eats.

I ate this one.  It has my necklace on top.  It.  Was.  A. Maz. Ing. 

So I ate the parfait, and quite a bit of pita chips from the snack table, and didn't sign up.  It was hard not to.  The kick-off meetings are so inspirational.  But I didn't.  But I did sign up to be an assistant coach for the fall season.  So I still get to be apart and don't have to raise money.  The best of both worlds!

And I still get to spend time with amazing people like Ruth. 

How can you say no to that??

And I'm Off!

I haven't finished packing.

I haven't loaded the dishwasher.

I haven't vacuumed the floors.

I haven't bought allergy pills.

I haven't gotten out of the boot.

I haven't finished the laundry...but I'm pretty sure everyone will have enough to survive.

But I'm leaving, on a jet plane (name that song and artist and I'll be impressed) in the morning.

At 6:10 in the a of m.

That means my alarm is set for, gulp, 3:55. We're heading out at 4:30 to pick up some other Angels and get to the airport. There's no stinking way I'm getting there 2 hours early!

Have I mentioned here before that I HATE to fly?? But my running partner has never flown and she's pretty freaked out.

That might be the distraction I need.

So the boot and I will soon be on our way to San Francisco. I plan to wear it up until race morning, and as soon after as possible. The race starts at 7 a.m. California time.

Say a prayer for me.

I'd appreciate it!

And thank you so much to all of you who donated to me. Your generosity is already being used to help save lives. I hope you are blessed for the blessing you've been to me:c)

The End Is Near

****They keep coming!****My sweet blog friend Kelly sent me a donation today! She is an inspiring woman who lives with her own stuggles and she donated to me. Me! Please stop by her blog and read about how amazing she is.
****And more updates!**** I am so blessed with great friends and family! Thanks to Tom and Margie, Lisa (a former Angel), and Roy and Rebecca!
****Update to the update****Thank you thank you to my blog friend Kim for donating to me AGAIN! And blogging about it, AND putting in on her Facebook wall! I am so grateful!
****Update****Thank you to my long time follower Jean for her donation today!! Love that lady:c)

I signed recomittment papers last night for my half marathon. That means I put down my credit card number so that my unfinished fundraising will be charged to me soon.

TNT made a deal with alumni this time. Tracy's birthday wish of having 40 friends join her for the race put our LLS chapter into a higher fund raising bracket. They've had trouble meeting their new goal. To get more people interested they told us that if we got three people to sign up under us we would save $500 for each person. I got my three and reached my goal thanks to amazing friends, family, some strangers, and some blog friends. I planned to continue to fund raise and share my extra with the three people under me. But now I'm faced with one of my three backing out and not recommitting. That means I suddenly need $500 more dollars.

I know that most of you don't personally know me, but I'm asking for your help. Remember I'm doing this to raise money for blood cancer research. And as well as doing the fundraising I'm training to run my second half marathon. I run three morning a week going at least three miles, hit the gym two mornings to do the bike and weights, and do long runs on Saturday. I live in Oklahoma and it's summer. I'm not going to lie, it's been hard. I never knew I could sweat this much. Our long runs are being started earlier and earlier to try and beat the heat. There's not a time that it's cool. Last week we ran 9 miles and even starting at 5:30 in the morning, it was miserable. I've also had numerous weird and freaky things go wrong lately. Maybe I'll elaborate on that later. But I keep going.

Tracy gave us bracelets to wear that say "Keep Fighting! GoMitchGo!" I wear mine almost everyday and for every run that I go on. When it's hard and I'm hot and sweaty and trying to keep going, I look at the bracelet. Tracy and John lost their son. They went through two years of treatment and setbacks with him. Mitchell had countless spinal taps, chemo rounds, and stays in the hospital. In the end he lost his battle and Tracy and John lost their son. All I have to do is run and raise money. I have the easy part.

Will you help me? $500 would help me, but $5 would also help! Every penny gets me closer to helping with research and crossing the finish line.

I am so grateful to these people who have already believed in me enough to donate:

Kim-Kim and I follow each others blogs but have never met in person. She was my first donater and I am so blessed to 'sort of' know her!
Peggy-Sweet Peggy gave me a donation last time as well. I love my Aussie friend!
Anonymous-I received an anonymous last time for the same amount. I wish I knew who it was so I could personally thank them!
Kevin and Gretta-Shawn's best friend and his wife have blessed me both times as well.
Shandee-My sweet cousin. She's a repeat donater and I love her!
David and Valerie-Friends and neighbors. They doubled what they gave me last time.
Robin-My sweet cousin who inspired me to go into blogging. She donated to me last time and I'm so grateful that she still believes in me.
Lorene-A sweet friend from college. She is also a runner (an amazing one) and I'm so thankful that she believes in me.
Judy-Our sweet bonus family member. Sunday's just aren't the same without her joining us for lunch. She has believed in me both times.
Dr. John-He pierced my ears and was my first doctor.
Janis-My awesome Aunt. She's helped me both times.
Harold and Martha-These sweet returning donaters are my parents. I grew up across the street from them and they included me in their family to the point of telling people they have three children. I now live in their old house!
Claudetta-She is a two time donater. She was one of my mom's very close friends and was the main hostess for my bridal shower.
Marilyn-She was the secretary at my last job. She was the only nice person in the office! I found her on Facebook after several years and have loved being in touch with her again.
Mark and Debbie-They were our only friends in the first town we lived in after we were married. Thanks to Facebook we have gotten back in touch and get to see each other often. I will be joining them in October to run a race for those affected by cancer. Mark is one of those people. Happily he is now cancer free!
Lorna-This feisty little lady has blessed me both times. We serve on a board at church together.
Kent and Stephane-Kent is the superintendent of our school system. He is such a Godly man and our school is a better place because of him.
Bob and Barb-My cousins that are as funny as they come! They have helped me both times.
Scott and Elizabeth-My awesome brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Steve and Nancy-I was just blessed to attend their 50th wedding anniversary. Their lives have been touched by leukemia twice. Their donation had a little note that said they wished they could do more. I assured them that they had done so much!
Don-My cousin Don has donated to me both times. I know he is on a fixed income and I'm so thankful that he shares a little for this great cause!
Madelyn-I have known her for years and years. We now serve on the Foundation board together raising money for our school district.
Jody-Shawn's cousin the self made HCIC of the family. That's Head Cousin In Charge in case you were wondering:) When we met for the first time she talked about her 'undergunnies' and told Shawn she approved of me!
Marvin and Ruth-My great uncle and aunt who are both in their 90's! I know they live on a tight budget and I'm so grateful.
Mary-Mary is one of my mom's friends. She was my first Mary Kay representative and I love seeing her at our high school.
Howard and Pat-My amazing in-laws. They have always believed in me.
Susie-Shawn's aunt and mom's baby sister. She's helped me out both times. I love her!
Gigi-My grandmother. Let's talk about fixed incomes. She can make a dollar stretch farther than anyone else I know. For her to donate to me both times was hard, and I'm so grateful.
Ramona-One of the best cooks I know. We serve on the same board at church and her dry sense of humor keeps the meetings fun.
Kevin-Not only did this wonderful friend volunteer to come sit at my fundraising garage sale on a hot Saturday so I could go run, he also gave me a donation.
Don and Opal-My mother-in-laws best friend. I love seeing her when we visit their church. Her smile is infectious.
Phyllis-Shawn's aunt who lives on the other side of the country. Another person on a tight budget. She gave what she could and I so appreciate it.
Evelyn-My college English professor. She sang in the church choir with myself and my mom for years.
Mrs. Unruh-She is my absolute favorite teacher of all time. I had her for 5th grade and again in 6th for half my classes. Although she was challenging, she was loving and caring also. I still remember bits of most of the poems we had to memorize, the countries we had to memorize, and I can quote perfectly the list of adverbs. And who knows what parts of the buffalo the Indians used? I'll tell you at the end of this post.
Phil and Ann-I have known them my entire life and was lucky enough to work for them at the gift store a few years ago.
Robert and Linda-They have given to me both times as well. I grew up with their daughter and sang in the church choir with Linda. I have never seen her without a smile on her face.
Eileen-My wonderful great-aunt. She is another one who lives on a fixed income but gives anyway.
Beth-Oh my amazing friend Beth. She was a runner last time and went through the fundraising. She has donated to several of us this time because she knows how hard it is. I am blessed to be her friend.

So can you help? Like I said, $5 will help. If each of my followers gave me $5 I'd be over halfway there. If a few of you could give $10 or $20, I'd be there! Your donation is tax deductible and will change lives for the better.

To donate to me click here. To read more about the Whitaker family click here.

Thank you friends!

A. Indians used everything but the breath. I love that.

Garage Sale Fun

In preparing for a garage sale the thing that I always struggle with is how to hang the clothes. I know no one that has a rack. And believe me, I've asked. So this time I had it worked out. I had a plan. A PVC pipe and an opening in the bricks and the iron work in the garage.I know you're impressed. But I have a confession. I had to add a pool pole to get it long enough. But I had a sag in the middle. That's okay, I had a crutch. And when that turned our to be too short, I added a little chair someone had donated to sell.I know, I'm a genius. I of course didn't make any money on the chair, but I was proud. Until someone bumped into the crutch. I had to be brilliant again. Aha! Bicycle hooks and an old rope.I know, I know. Pure genius. It held the entire four days.

Before I redid the girls' room they had wooden blocks that spelled their names up in a bookshelf. It was so cute. Since McKinley, Kennedy, and Reagan's names decrease by one letter they were all stacked up on each other. But with their more sophisticated room it just didn't fit. So they went into the garage sale. A big basket of blocks didn't show well so I set about displaying them to their fullest potential. I couldn't spell the names because then people wouldn't want to buy them. So...And before you question the LN, he was my uncle. It was short for Lenes. Neither one of those would have been my choice for a name, personally. But he was an amazing man.

When my amazing friend Debbie surprised me by driving almost 2 hours to bring her family to help, her daughter did this.Mangle. Always a good word. And let's not compare a 4th graders words to a grown ups words please. I happen to like 3 letter words.

Garfield and his friends were entertained by all our word play. And my favorite thing? This. Because of the box I pulled it out of I'm pretty sure it was Mitchell's. It was a hit.

Thanks to all of you who came out and supported our garage sale! And to those of you who donated items for me to sell. And to those who came and helped me so I didn't lose my mind. You are more loved than you'll ever know!

Just Another Excuse

I love you all. More than my luggage as PW would say. And I know I'm ignoring you all. And you have my sincerest apologies. If I could put everything aside and blog I would. But until Saturday evening I am involved in the garage sale to end all garage sales. (Pictures to come of course)

So until then, remember I love you. And sometimes love means having to say, "That fruitcake crazed mom needs to keep her big yap shut and quit over committing herself!"

It's okay. I can handle it.

See you all soon. Well...you know what I mean:c)

Why I Am Stressed

What I'm currently working on:

*Tickets sales for the All School Musical which starts Thursday
*Fielding up to 20 calls a day from people who don't want to go buy tickets on the days they are being sold
*Having two children in the musical
*Doing hair and makeup for both girls Tuesday through Saturday because the makeup person is scary and mean and consistently late
*Taking pictures at all the dress rehearsals to sell on show nights
*Editing the 3000 pictures I've already taken to choose 100 to have printed and put on cds
*Heading up the 5th grade promotion for 107 students. I send out e-mails, notes, hold meetings, handle all the money, and coordinate all the days events and the parent volunteers
*Working on a fundraising auction. I have to describe each of 100+ items to create a program from.
*Running a 5k this Sunday
*Fundraising $3500 for a half marathon in October
*Having a garage sale Thursday-Saturday. I'm selling our things to raise the $1000 needed to buy pool paint and selling donated items to go toward my fundraising.
*Pricing all the stuff that wonderful friends and family have given me to sell. I haven't seen my 200 square foot patio in three weeks because of all the stuff.
*Healing! I am still having a lot of foot pain but only because I can't take any time off to heal!
*Getting costumes together for Book Character Day this Friday. Why oh why would they have this the week of the musical and the week before state testing?
*Staying calm and organized. I'm really trying.

Things I'm not currently working on:

*Working out. I ran Monday and rode the bike yesterday but can't fit it in again until the 5k Sunday.
*Cooking. After making 9 dozen cookies (for a dress rehearsal) and 3 loaves of bread Monday I haven't been home a night all week to make dinner.
*Cleaning. I am working on laundry because apparently the people I live with need clean undies. But the rest of the house is in shambles.
*Calorie counting. I have given up hope on that until Monday. My birthday is Friday so I have just decided to celebrate my birthday all week. I've been good, but I haven't counted.
*Staying calm and organized. I don't think I'm doing a good enough job.

Wow. Seeing it all there typed out makes it

I'm Well On My Way!

Thanks to amazing friends, some I don't even know in person like Kim and Peggy, and some awesome family like Robin, I have reached $1,150 in my fundraising!

But I still have a long way to go. If you feel lead to donate please visit my LLS page.

Because Mitchell's family will be moving to Texas at the end of May, Tracy will not be able to be our mentor. A mentor sends out e-mails, is always available for any questions, and is just an encourager where needed. I was honored when I was asked to fill that need. And to be asked to attempt to fill Tracy's shoes, wow. I will never come anywhere close to giving the encouragement that she gave me and all of the Mitchell's Angels. But I'm honored I'm being given the chance to try. So wish me luck!

Since our team Saturday morning runs start in the middle of May I really need to fast forward this healing on my foot. I told a friend today that if I could just take two weeks off and not do anything, I'd be fine. But as many other moms know, that just isn't possible. So for now I just overdue it every day and around 7 I try to make up for it by putting it up and alternating heat and ice. So far, no good. But I'm hopeful. It feels great every morning!

So, here I sit, relaxing....thinking of the millions of things I need to be doing. Typical mom thinking, don't you think? Man, considering I'm on pain pills, I'm doing a lot of thinking!

Off And Running

Thanks to some awesome friends and some amazing family I am 9% into my fundraising. I still have a long way to go though! The math scares me! Will you help? If each of my followers gave just $20 I would have an additional $1040!!! Kim blew me out of the water with my very first donation. She got the ball rolling and I hope some of you can help me keep it going!

The money that you donate goes straight to helping find a cure for blood cancers. As Tracy said in the sign up meeting at her house, "It's because of people like you, running these races, and donating your money, that I had two more years with my son." Her son lost his battle, but others don't have to.

Will you help? Just click on the Team in Training banner on the left of this page to go directly to my fundraising page.

Thank you in advance for anything you feel you can do. I love you all and am so glad you're on this journey with me!

Here We Go!

I am up and running!

Literally and...um...computerly...?

My fundraising website is set up and already receiving donations!

It had only been up about two hours when Kim made the first one. Can I tell you that I sat here with tears streaming with amazement of her generosity? I don't know her in person yet but I stalk her here and on Facebook. I hope to meet her someday and thank her in person.

Shortly after I got the e-mail about hers I got another one! My friend Marilyn who made my old job fun and bearable also donated.

Can I just say, I feel loved. I'm honored by these sweet people in my life!

So, really, I'm not going to go on and on about fundraising. I promise. But for those of you who are interested here is my link.

My fundraising page

Coming up...the weekend of McKinley! Banquet and Achievement Party at a Japanese Steakhouse.

Stay tuned!!

On the edge of your seats, aren't you?? :o)

I did it again!

I signed the papers tonight.

I wrote the check.

I committed myself again.

I am scared.

I am worried.

But......

I have no regrets.

I'm doing it again. I'm running another half marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Team in Training. But most importantly, for my friends who lost their 10 year old son to leukemia. And actually for everyone who has battled a blood cancer or has had someone in their family battle it. Every 4 minutes someone is diagnosed, and every 10 minutes someone loses their battle.

I'm warning you now... I will be fundraising and writing about needing money. Please don't leave me if you don't want to read it! I promise it won't all be about that every post! But because of them last time I was extremely blessed by some readers and fellow bloggers who did donate. I'm forever grateful.

Join me on my journey. I wrote some meaningful and funny stuff last time under the categories running, half marathon, and fundraising. I plan to do the same with this time in my life. And this time I have a cohort. Visit her blog and see how she's doing. She might even blame me for talking her into this!!

So, here I go again. I have goals and plans but I know this time that it's not about me. Knowing that from the beginning changes everything.

Race for the Cure

I lost my mom in August of '96 to breast cancer complications.

She was 53 years old.

Her mother also died at 53 of cancer complications.

Because of that I have walked the Race for the Cure several years in their memory. Two years ago I felt led to run the race. I had tried running before. Okay, twice. Now I had a reason and a cause. I followed the Couch to 5k 9-week program and ended the final day by running the race without stopping. A huge personal accomplishment for a truly lazy person like myself.

This year I couldn't find anyone to run it with. (Insert Stephanie's pouty face here.) Our church had the first of what will become a traditional 5k and my running friends were doing that race. I love my church but my loyalties lie with breast cancer research and not wells in Africa. Sorry. Shawn did run it but that hilarious story is going to have to be another post. This is all about me.

My Bible Study leaders are both breast cancer survivors. They, and also sisters of each one, walk it every year as survivors. A group of other family members and friends join them. This year I joined their group.

The morning of the festivities started out at 38 degrees. You can tell by looking at Rhonda that it was down right chilly.

Here's part of our group. We look cold, don't we? As we were standing around waiting to start this man walked up. These three ladies got all misty eyed and started hugging him. He was their oncologist. It was put in perspective when Brenda said, "This is the man who saved our lives." He runs the race every year with his sons. How amazing is that?After some warm up exercises and the National Anthem white doves were released to honor those who had lost the battle. I of course started crying as the flew away into the sunset. I'm crying now as I type this. 13 years later it is still hard.As the gun shot we were off and my feet were itching to run. I really wished I'd had the confidence to run it by myself. Instead I watched the runners set off as I started the walk with my camera ready for whatever may happen.This is such a fun event because of the firefighters,cheerleaders,characters, and a completely different type of characters.As always I love to find fun t-shirts. Someday I'm designing my own. Hold me to that, will you?And the signs. Oh the signs. As a walker I took the time to read as many as I could. Needless to say, I cried the entire one mile walk. As we approached the finish line the finishers of the 5k were heading in. Do you see the thighs on that guy?Even though I hadn't run it I still had done my little tiny part to find a cure. In my little part of So that was the happy side of my day.

Now for the other side.

My Bible Study leader is a wonderful teacher. I look forward to our Tuesday mornings together. But after we leave the church our relationship is different. She is good friends with some of my good friends but we're not close. Does that make sense? I always feel on the outside.

Anyway.

Two of the ladies knew my mom, and know what I've gone through. One of them was one of my mom's best friends.....my mom wasn't mentioned at all. Is that selfish of me? I don't know if they were trying to keep me happy, or if they didn't even think about it.

I struggle every day with questions as to why they were healed and my mom wasn't. That is between God and me though. I felt like the whole reason for me being there was forgotten and instead we focused on the survivors. Don't get me wrong, I celebrate their life. But I also mourn a death.

So, both sides of my day. Think I'm crazy?? It's okay, I can handle the truth:c)

And just for fun...we've discussed before how I am soooo not a crowd person. This was the view around me. I have no idea how I didn't freak out and hyperventilate.

Could someone hand me a paper bag please??

Phoenix-Day 3-The race

So...day 3 in Phoenix...what happened on day 3?? Let me think....

OH! THE RACE!!!

All of our hard work and sacrifice were about to come to an end. I wasn't really sure how I felt about it.

I did know how I felt when my alarm went off at 5 a.m. READY TO GO!!

I had carefully laid out everything that I would need.

Yes, I realized that's a whole lot of stuff. High maintenance, remember!!

Becky and I headed down to the lobby. It was purple everywhere you looked!

After several friend pictures...We gathered on the stairs and took a Team Oklahoma picture.
Sadly there wasn't a camera that got a good picture! That's because I was in front of mine, not behind.

After one last 'Go Team' cheer...
We waved goodbye to the full marathoners as they boarded the shuttle and nervously waited until our shuttle came.

Way too soon our bus was ready and off we went.Once at the race location we checked our gear bag, started stretching, got in the 40 minute Port-a-Potty line, and made our way to our corral. Oh, and took more pictures!
To make the start less of a mess, each entrant had to guesstimate their finish time. They used those times to put each runner in a corral. I ended up in Corral 21and so did everyone else who figured they'd finish in 3 hours. Luckily I was surrounded by lots of other Angels.
And lots of strangers also.

CLAUSTROPHOBIA ANYONE???
Since there were 20 other corrals in front of us that had to cross the start line we had some time to kill! We actually ended up at the start line 40 minutes after Corral 1 started. Every 2 minutes we'd walk a little bit closer. What are a bunch of girls to do while waiting?? Take pictures of course!

This precious friend is a fellow blogger. I am crushed that I won't get to see her on a regular basis now.
This is my amazing friend Susan. She has six boys. SIX! And she's so cute and tiny you'd never guess it. For living in a house full of testosterone she is very girly. For the race I was carrying salt, energy jelly beans, GU packets, and chap stick. She had her sparkly lip gloss and camera. She walked the whole thing, and beat me...but I still love her:)
I did snap some pictures along the way. But since they were with the disposable camera, and I was kind of bouncing around, they weren't very good. Bear with me as I try to describe to you what they are.

See the people with the E, A, and M on their shirts? Those are TNT employees, mentors, and coaches. They were all along the route, just about every 1/2 mile. Cheering, encouraging, and waving. Since we had our names on our TNT jerseys they would call us by name and cheer for us. Very encouraging. I teared up most times. Strangers calling out my name and clapping for me? I felt like a celebrity!This was tempting...I've never been there. But, since the majority of the people were going straight, I followed suit.
I'm such a follower.

So, how did I do? Well first off, let me 'splain.

At the point of recommitment my longest run was 8 miles. I had to fill out my paperwork and guesstimate my finish time. I talked to some friends that ran the same pace as me and they said 3 hours. I was happy with that and went along my merry way. A few more miles under my belt and I really thought 2:30. I left for Phoenix feeling confident with 2:30.

But then I allowed myself to get talked out of taking my own water in my fuel belt the night before. Who knows why...maybe I thought the less extra weight on me, the better. Maybe it was peer pressure. I don't know. I found out the water stops were every two miles so I thought I'd be fine. What I didn't think about was that messing up my run 10 minutes/walk 2 minutes pattern. I also lost my running partner at mile 6 and spent 10 minutes walking and looking for her. She had been having some leg pain and was really relying on me to keep her on the 10/2 pattern. I felt guilty but finally went on.

So...enough excuses yet?

Wait, there's more! Well, not really. It did get harder. And the supposedly flat course went up from 9-12 miles, and it we windy, and hot, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I know, stop complaining!

At mile 12 I decided to run it in. We started across a beautiful bridge with beautiful scenery and my motivating song came on my phone. I was set. I was going! Up ahead of me I caught sight of one of our coaches, Mark. He ran to me and asked how I was doing. I told him I was recommitted and feeling good. Dragonforce was jamming in my ears and I was out of there! He congratulated me and sent me on my way. I started getting really excited as I saw the 13 mile marker ahead of me. I was almost there!

But wait.

A half marathon isn't 13 miles. Oh no. It's 13.1. Can I just say that the last .1 is the longest, most grueling, mean, inhumane thing in the world! It seemed longer then the whole 13 I'd just done! It was also very curvy and the finish line was very well hidden until we were right up on it.

But, it was finally in my sights. I got a final burst of energy and crossed the line. I glanced at my watch and saw my time. 3:01:48.

WHAT!!

How did that happen?

I had hoped for 2:30 but really wanted to finish before 3:00. I know, I know. 1:48. Why was I complaining? Still, I was mad.

But, then I saw her.
Tracy was waiting at the finish line, hugging each and every one of us as we finished.
My grumpiness left immediately as I threw my arms around her and started crying. It wasn't about my time, it wasn't about me at all. It was about Tracy, and John, and sweet Mitchell. It was about all the things we had accomplished before we even got to Phoenix. The fundraising, the families that will be helped by our money, the awareness that was raised.
The memories. What could be better?

Coming tomorrow...After the finish line...

You're on the edge of your seat. Aren't you??