Hare

I've been a little reluctant to post anything to the blog. Sara asked me early on to write something about my grandmother, after all she is the reason that we started the training. Well it only took me 7 weeks, who's the tortoise now? I was struggling to come up with the right words. I miss Grandma Burke very much. She died just 5 months before my wedding in August 2002. I had always thought that she and I would dance at my wedding, but leukemia took that away for me. I take some solace from the fast that after her diagnosis Grandma was able to say good-bye, and gave Sara and I her blessing. I truly believe that the one day break in the heat and humidity for our wedding day was because of Grandma.

I'm hoping that the money Sara and I raise will help give someone more time with their Grandma or grandchild. I know that there is a long way to go in the fight against blood cancers, but I need to do this. I need to make sure that no one else has to miss that special someone in their lives. If I can do that maybe I can truly honor my Grandmother's memory.

This weekend's practice was another jump up in mileage. The full marathoners were doing 10 and the halfers were doing 5. We practiced at Valley Forge Park, great for goal setting (I'll walk to that next log cabin...) bad for self esteem. Valley Forge is famous to me for the terrain of the park (read as: hills) and the difficulty of the course (read as: hills, mostly up....sometimes constantly up). As Sara has described before I started walking with her and sped up to my normal pace at the half to the three-quarter mile point. I kept speeding up until I hit my pace, and was at the front of the group. I spent all of the course after the 1.5 mile point on my own. I tried to motivate myself by seeing how far ahead of the group I could stay. This was very difficult. Sara and I train mostly on flat even terrain, think treadmill. So hills some lasting a 1/4 mile or more are no fun.

I did manage to stay ahead of the pack. I didn't realize how far ahead of the pack until I hit the second turn around point at mile 8 and most of the team was still heading out to mile 7. Being a mile ahead, and coming back to Sara pushed me a little extra, and I managed to finish within 5 minutes of the 15 minute a mile pace. A great thing considering the hills and the two refueling breaks!

Sara had a great practice as well! Jerry, the head coach of the walk team, walked back with me for half a mile and could not stop saying how proud of Sara he was. Jerry mentioned her ability to finish strong which bodes well for longer distances and was very encouraged to still see a positive attitude even after the five miles were over. This was Sara's fist time completing the 5 mile loop at Valley Forge, and believe me having a positive attitude after facing the long hill is something I could not manage. Not on my best day. I am very proud of Sara and all of the hard work she has put into the training.

I want to thank you for stopping by, constant reader, please take a moment to remember the reason. Fundraising has slowed down a bit, so if you haven't sent us your contribution yet, we hope you will do that soon. We need to raise $2,000 by mid March so that we can send in our registration for the race. Thank you to everyone who has generously donated thus far! The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society donates 75% of every dollar directly to patients, families, research and development. The other 25% helps with administrative costs, since LLS is a nonprofit organization. Thanks for checking in on our progress! Your support means the world to us!-Dan