reflection.

I can't believe that it has almost been a year since I ran my first marathon. It was one of the toughest, most rewarding things I have ever done. I was able to run in honor and memory of those who have battled blood cancers and I believe that is what truly got me through all of the training and the race. I still think back on the experience and it will be something that I will absolutely never forget.

This time last year I was gearing up for a 20 mile run. This year, I am proud to say, I am gearing up for a 12 mile run. I am slowly building back up to 20 miles and I cannot wait til that day. I am preparing to run the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama on December 12th. I am in about my 8th week of training and I am so excited to be training for my second marathon. I am doing this with several other friends, who I met while training last year. I am so thankful to have friends that are willing to do a second marathon!

In the past year, I have completed two half marathons, Myrtle Beach half in Februray and Greer half in April. Both were awesome experiences, but I didn't train as well as I needed to, but definitely made me respect 13.1 miles a lot more than I did before! Myrtle Beach was very flat and was a great run, Greer on the other hand was super hilly and super hot! But I am glad that I did both and am now on my way to doing another full! In October I will be doing the Greenville half marathon and am looking to improve on my time. This training season has gone very well and I feel great on the majority of my runs. This time in the training last year, I think I was running out of steam. I am glad this year is completely different and am sure that my body is more used the strenuous running. So here's to many more runs until December and my 12 miles this weekend!

I was also so inspired by how great running made me feel, I am now volunteering to coach a girls running program called Girls on the Run. It is a self esteem building program for girls ages 8-14. We train them to run a 5k race at the end of 12 weeks and also teach them life lessons about self esteem, respect, and healthy living. I am coaching elementary school girls and so far am really enjoying it. It's so different than coaching soccer, but I am hoping I will be able to combine both to be a much better coach and mentor for girls.

the race.

I woke up at 4:30 am to get ready for the big race! I honestly felt like I was going to throw up. I couldn't figure out if it was nerves, hunger, or a combination of both, but it had to go. I got ready and I met my friends Rachel, Anja, and Jennie to do some last minute preparation. I soon forgot about the feeling in my gut and was ready to get the race started! We met the rest of our team down in the hotel lobby to take team pictures and meet up with everyone. We started to walk to the start line and realized some of us needed to check our bag (if you check a bag of stuff, they will bring it to the finish line for you, that way you have a change of clothes and other essentials for after the race). I left Rachel, Anja, and Jennie waiting for me and when I went to return I had to walk all the way around a line of porto potties. I lost them in the crowd of people! I started to freak out because I was planning on running with them the entire time and I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it without them. I finally saw them in the crowd of people and I have never been so happy to see them. We went to line up with the other 20,000 people and stood there for what felt like an eternity. We were all so ready to get this started.

(Rachel, me, Anja, Jennie at the starting line)

Once the race started we all were feeling really good and confident. We were staying on a slow and steady pace and felt like nothing could stop us. The first few miles were extremely flat and then we hit a hill. It was short so it didn't really bother us very much. It kinda felt good to run up something instead of just flat and boring (not that this course was ever boring). It was a nice change of pace.

 (the first of many hills)

We ran up a few more smaller hills and then it was downhill to sea level and by the marina. The sights were unbelievable. We had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and even stopped for a photo op! I was still feeling great at this point.

Then we get to mile 6. This is known to be the toughest hill of the course. It is a mile long hill that climbs over 250 feet. Literally straight up. Fortunately for us, it didn't seem to bad running it. I did start feeling it in my butt and hoped that would only be temporary. We actually ran up the entire hill and down the other side. I was quite a challenge to keep your legs running, but something none of us wanted to regret not having done. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to run up, because it caused my muscles to ache for the rest of the run. And yes, I had 20 more miles to go. I definitely don't regret it, but probably should have been a bit smarter about it. We continued on through mile 10 and we hadn't seen any of our parents yet. We were all really anxious to see them because it gives you this rush like you can conquer the next 2 miles without any problem. Coming down off of mile 10 hill, we were greeted by the beautiful ocean. We ended up calling our families to see where they were. They were all within about 3 miles of each other, which was great. We saw Anja's family first and they were awesome to cheer for us! At this point, there were thousands of spectators and you almost forgot that you were running. It was entertaining to see all of the people lined up cheering. And they were cheering for us. We've never met them, but they were yelling and cheering, "Go Team!" It was great.

I started to wonder if I had missed my dad and about the time I gave up on seeing him, I spotted him in the distance! It was such a great feeling to see a familiar face. We continued on and made it all the way to the half way point without really stopping to walk (other than to walk through water stops). It felt like such a great accomplishment. We were greeted with more hills and finally had to take a small walk break. Starting up running again was a lot harder than it would seem. My legs were tight and my feet started hurting. By the time I got to mile 16 where I saw my dad again, I was in pain! We were now back next to the ocean on the Great Highway. This is known as the not-so-Great-Highway. It felt like a bunch of rocks were just jabbing into my poor feet. Other runners were on the other side of the road running back towards the finish line. It was just any time now that I would be able to turnaround and head back that direction. I couldn't wait for that moment. We were confronted by another hill that looked even more daunting than mile 6. At this point, I said "I just don't feel like running up it." My legs still hurt from running up mile 6 and I figured it might be in my best interest to walk up half of it and maybe run the other half. I got to a point where I was really excited because the turnaround was just ahead, so I picked it up and started running again. We got to the top of the hill and realized, the turnaround is a run around the lake. Oh crap. So here we go around the lake and up some hills. This lake is now my worst enemy. At this point I think I was mentally numb and my entire body was numb, except for the bottoms of my feet that hurt like crazy.

At this point, we are only at mile 19 or so. I tried to block out everything except for the reason I was doing this. I thought about cancer patients, I thought about all the people out there cheering for me, I thought about the lady who spoke to us the night before who has had one hell of a battle with cancer, and I thought about the finish line. I never once thought about calling it quits, although I had thought about wanting to walk the rest of the way. I never got to the point where I didn't think I would finish, I wasn't sure if I would finish in a reasonable time, but I knew I had it in me to cross the finish line. Once I made it around the lake, I had one last hill to climb and then it was all downhill to the finish line.

 (downhill to the finish!)

I have never been so excited to be running the last few miles of a run and not been able to really express it. I was in so much pain at this point, I couldn't show any emotion. The last 3 miles were the longest 3 miles of my life. Literally. It took me probably 45 minutes to run 3 miles, whereas it usually takes me 30 minutes. I felt like I was using every bit of energy I had left but my legs just wouldn't move. Once I hit the 26 mile marker, I wanted to "sprint" in but it was more of a speed walk than a sprint. It felt so good to finish, but yet again, I was hurting so bad, I didn't really have any other feelings. I grabbed my beautiful blue Tiffany box from the fireman in a tux and kept on walking. I heard my dad yell my name and I was so excited he got to see me finish! It was the greatest feeling in the world to finish! I can't wait to do another one!

 (me, 2nd from the left)

strong women run for 5 hours and 47 minutes.

I never said I was fast. Although I surprised myself at how slow I am, that wasn't the point of the marathon for me. It was to enjoy myself and to make a small difference in the life of a blood cancer patient. I did just that. I raised $4834.20 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and ran my little heart out just for those who have or have survived blood cancers. I started out on this journey running for Ashley and little did I know I would be running for 14 others. My dad asked me on our way home what kept me going and it was Ashley, Foster Case, Sue Rowe, Pat Lewis, Carolyn Stair, Adrienne Lemmond, Rebecca Johnson, James Lyle, Marge Beko, Cleva Cole, Bill Hargrove, Ruth Carey Seigle, Robert Smith, Garehard Lysk, and Don Allen who kept my legs moving. I thought about what all they had to go through and how much pain they were in and what I was going through was only temporary. Those people have made a difference in my life. I can't even imagine having to do that marathon without those people in my thoughts. They gave me a reason to run. They gave me a reason not to give up. And they gave me a strength that I could have only found in their names and stories. I know that they will always be in my thoughts when I run marathons because they are the ones that got me to the starting line and finish line of my very first marathon. All five hours and forty seven minutes of Sunday, October 19 were dedicated to those names mentioned and it changed my life forever.

I finished!!!

I ran a marathon!! I am so glad that it is over with and I can say that I accomplished something a lot of people cringe to the thought of. I am still a bit sore and look like I am in pain when I walk, but it was all worth it. I wouldn't trade the pain for anything at this point. I would have probably said something different during the race, but looking back it was a good experience. I am now the proud owner of a Tiffany's finisher necklace and a new accomplishment. And not only did I run a marathon, I also raised $4800 for a cure!

Thank you to everyone who supported me and even donated a few dollars to help get me to my goal! I am still out here enjoying San Francisco and will be returning home on Wednesday. I promise to write more then and post many many pictures. 

tomorrow, tomorrow...

I leave in the morning to go to San Francisco!! I can't believe it's already here and I am going to be doing this on Sunday. I am so excited and so very nervous at the same time. I think if everything goes according to schedule, then I will do great, but if something goes wrong, it's going to throw me all off. But I know I can do it but just keep stressing myself out thinking that I am not prepared for something. I just have to remember who all I am doing this for and how much money I have raised for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and I am pretty sure that will get me through any tough times during the run. I am so thankful that I have made it here healthy and strong. I have had some issues with my feet and with a little physical therapy I am pretty much back to normal. So in the morning I am going to hop on that plane and be ready to run on Sunday. I can't wait to meet up with my team in San Francisco. It is going to be a great weekend and I just have to remember how far I have come!

Thank you everyone for your support and donations. It means the world to me and I don't think I could ever thank you guys enough. It has been a long road to get to this point and a huge time commitment, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have learned so much about blood cancers, myself, and how strong and supportive my friends and family are. I am looking forward to sharing my experience of the race and overall experience. 

SAN FRANCISCO... HERE I COME!!!

7 days.

By this time next week I will have run a marathon and will probably be laid up in the bed recovering. I am so excited to have that feeling of completing something I never thought I would do, and enjoy doing. It is going to be such a great weekend and I wish all of my friends and family could be there. I will definitely be thinking about how each and every one of you guys has supported me and really helped get me to the starting line. It has been a long and very rewarding journey so far and I can't wait to get to San Francisco on Friday!

I ran my last 10 miles with the team on Saturday. I actually ran the majority of the 10 miles by myself because Katie needed to rest her foot because she is having problems with plantar fascitis too. It was just me and the open road. I really tried to push myself and see how fast I could go in order to see what I could expect myself to do next week. I'm not sure if it was the brightest idea, but mentally it really got me pumped up. I cut about 30 minutes off of my time from last week, and I still felt like I could go some more if I needed to. I also didn't have any pain in my foot, which felt like running on clouds for the first time in over a month. It was such a good run and I can't believe it's going to be my last with the team. Although I am sure I will get together with some of them to run on occasion, it's not going to be all of us. I really can't believe that the time is here and I am really going to run a marathon. 7 days and I will be at the starting line!!

in memory of ernie.

I went and watched the movie "The Express" last night. It chronicles the life of Ernie Davis, a football player for Syracuse in 1959-1961 and the first African-American to win a Heisman Trophy. During this time that Ernie played for Syracuse, racism was very prevalent in this country. He helped change the game forever and has inspired many to see something more than just a sport. In 1962, Ernie Davis was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia. He immediately began treatment for this incurable disease and passed away the next year at the young age of 23. This seems so young to have your life dramatically changed and to be taken from you within the year. It makes me realize how far research and treatment has come since the '60s. These days, if you catch blood cancer soon enough, you have a very good chance of beating it. All of the advancements wouldn't be able to happen without the money to fund the research and tests. I feel so thankful that I have had the opportunity to raise money to help find a cure! 

I have been so worried lately about disappointing myself in this marathon. Although I am not really trying to make a certain time, I have a goal time in mind, and have no idea how feasible it will be since this is my first marathon. In the past couple of weeks I have had to keep reminding myself that this isn't about me, it's about all of those people who have battled blood cancer. I am doing this for them. Although I have received several benefits from all of the training, it ultimately comes down to why I started this journey in the first place. I remember the day I got the news that my friend Ashley had Leukemia and how I would have done anything for her to not have gone through what she did. I am using my legs and strength to run a marathon and to raise as much money as I can to help find a cure. Although my mere $4700 seems so little compared to what it really costs for research, my South Carolina team will have raised more than $40,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by the time we get to the starting line. And with all of the Team In Training participants this year, we should raise $18 million dollars through the Nike Women's Marathon alone. That is a huge amount of money and hopefully one day soon, there will be a cure.