Dan & Sara's Marathon Blog

Gummy Bears and Final Preparations

2008-01-06T20:40:00.000-05:00

We leave for Disney on Thursday, and couldn't be more excited! I am so proud of Dan and our fellow teammates for what they are about to do! I am jealous that I won't be able to participate, but I will be cheering them on every step of the way. I am sure I will post pictures when we return.

Speaking of pictures, check out our latest ultrasound photo. I am now 9 weeks, 3 days along. It's so amazing that the little dot on the screen has changed so much in such a short time! Doesn't it look a little like a gummy bear?

The head is to the right of the screen, and you can see the abdomen and limb buds as well. Isn't he/she cute?

Love,
Sara

Well, THAT'S a horse of a different color!

2007-12-28T01:21:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends,

Oh, has it really been since the beginning of November that I last posted??? Not many people read this anymore, but certainly not if I never put anything up!

I actually have intentionally been staying away from the blog, as I have a secret to share, but we all know how bad I am with keeping secrets, so I was afraid I would bl0w it!

Drum roll please..................

I'm PREGNANT!!!!! We are just completely over the moon! I am 8 weeks officially today-- our due date is August 7th, 2008. We have been having lots of ultrasounds to make sure everything is progressing as it should. Today, our "dot" on the screen went from a little blob to something that resembled a blob with a head and rear end. It's just amazing how things change so fast!

So what does that mean for the marathon? Well, unfortunately, I have had to drop from the race. I had a long discussion with my doctor about it, and all things considered, it's just not a good idea right now. If I had been a runner my entire life, maybe things would be different. But as he put it, the marathon will always be there. Right now I have to focus on growing a healthy person.

Dan will still do the full marathon, though I am a little concerned about his training. He hasn't been keeping up with it as much as he had for San Diego, and last weekend missed the big 20 mile practice. Poor thing came down with a stomach virus just before Christmas, and was too sick to leave the house, let alone walk 20 miles in a row! I know he'll be fine, but I just worry that his training has been inconsistent.

So that's where we are. We continue to fundraise, so if you are so inclined, we would appreciate you help to reach our goal. Thanks for checking in!

-Sara

Good News and Bad News

2007-11-05T12:54:00.000-05:00

The Good News is:
We've finally made our travel plans, and are extending our vacation in Disney for 3 days (I will be there a full week, Dan will be there for 5)! And, drumroll please... we are staying at the GRAND FLORIDIAN... I am so spoiled it's not even funny. I am so excited I can't even see straight!

The Bad News is:
I need to get my act (ahem) in gear, or I will be crying my way to the bus that drives you to the end! I really really really need to get it together. I have a little more than 2 months to go, and I need to train HARD! I guess it's just that my life is so crazy right now, with the new job coming up, etc. I am overwhelmed!

Did anyone read that Katie freakin' Holmes ran the NYC marathon???? Seriously??? As if being rich and gorgeous and thin and a mom isn't bad enough. She RAN A MARATHON! It's not fair. And, to wit, she finished only an hour and a half longer than it took me to do a HALF marathon. I'm disgusted.

See? Stuff like this makes me want to hang up my running shoes, sit on the couch, and drown my sorrows in some Oreo Double Stuffs! But at least my husband doesn't believe that God is actually an alien, and he's never gone crazy and jumped on Oprah's couch.

Oh, who are we kidding? Pass the cookies, please.

~Sara

Soggy Heroes

2007-10-29T13:05:00.000-04:00

Anyone from our area knows what kind of weather we had on Saturday morning: No, it didn't just rain. It RAINED. It POURED. It SOAKED. It DRENCHED. It TEEMED. It MONSOONED. And my poor teammates, some of them from the fall season doing their 20 mile practice, ran and walked with smiles on their faces. I am continually in awe of the people we have met through Team In Training.

And why, do you ask, am I speaking of them as if I wasn't walking alongside?? Because I wasn't. That's right-- it was my lucky day! I had picked Saturday as my day to man the waterstop. So I set up camp under the horse stables at mile 2.5 at Valley Green, and greeted my drowned little rats with Gatorade and a smile. Sadly, I didn't think to bring dry socks or underwear...

~Sara

Transitions

2007-10-22T12:22:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been quite a while since I updated! I've had so much going on that the time slipped right by.

Our biggest news is that I have taken a new job! Sorry it's been such a secret, but I needed to give my official notice at Jefferson before I let anyone else know... I have accepted a position at a private practice closer to home. I will miss my patients and my friends at Jefferson, but the 90 minute commute was getting to be too much. In this new position, I will be in 3 different locations for one practice. The closest office is about 20-25 mins away, and the other 2 are about 35 mins. So it will be a VAST improvement! I am nervous, of course, since it will be a new office, new co-workers, and a different population of patients, but I think it's a great opportunity for me. I start the Monday after Thanksgiving.

I look forward to getting home at a reasonable hour again!

Training is going okay. I have been frustrated these last few weeks. I am very concerned about the pace times set by Disney. Right now, it's all a mental game for me. The more I think about it, the heavier my feet feel, the more I tell myself I can't do this. Then I feel guilty because if kids like Noelle have to suffer through cancer and chemo, how come I can't walk a little faster? The pain in my legs is nothing compared to the pain in Noelle's parent's hearts since they lost her. I know I shouldn't beat myself up like that, but it's a vicious cylce! I know once I make the transition with my new job, my stress level will ease and I will be able to be more focused on training. I am trying to get my miles in during the week, but I am just so overwhelmed right now! I could really use some encouraging words if anyone's got them!

Thanks for checking in with us. Our fundraising is going well. We currently have $1,350 raised for Noelle. Halfway there! We are waiting to hear about a coulple other corporate sponsorships, so cross your fingers!

GO RED SOX!

~Sara

Somewhere over the Rainbow

2007-09-28T10:05:00.001-04:00

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that Noelle lost her battle with Leukemia yesterday afternoon.

I don't know what else to say.

I am heartbroken for her family.
I am in shock.

I hope you'll take a moment to remember Noelle today. I know she is up there watching us, because just as I got finished sending a note to her family, I saw a huge rainbow out my office window in the middle of Center City Philadelphia.

Thanks for the rainbow, Noelle.

~Sara

Where has September gone?

2007-09-27T09:48:00.000-04:00

Well, we are back from our vacation. Which was FABULOUS, by the way! We hope to have those pictures (or a link to them) up very soon.

But we left at the beginning of September, and here we are at the end... It was very strange to be disconnected from our everyday lives for such a long time!

I know many of you got a fundraising email before we left. I hope you will look into your hearts and your pocketbooks to help support our cause. We need your help to get closer to a cure.

Noelle's blood counts have not improved, so she started the clinical trial medications this week. We have to hope for a miracle now. I am continually amazed by the grace and candor that her parents have shown throughout this entire ordeal. I am not a parent (yet), but I don't know if I would be able to BREATHE through any of this, let alone be as strong as Tonya and Dave are. I am just in awe of them.

Thank you for checking in with our TNT adventures. Sorry I haven't been as prolific with posting; I have alot of stuff going on right now, and it always ends up last on my list. Now that we are back and getting settled, I will be able to tell you plenty of stories about our training adventures this season!

GO TEAM!
-Sara

The Littlest Angels

2007-09-10T10:51:00.000-04:00

This YouTube video was on Noelle's webpage this morning. I think it just about says it all. You can click on our newly installed link to help our search for a cure. Thanks in advance for your kind donation!

-Sara

Let the countdown begin...

2007-08-28T10:37:00.000-04:00

Not that I am rubbing it in or anything, but we only have 14 days left until we leave for our Hawaiian vacation! Both Dan and I are seriously overdue for some R&R, so we can’t help but count the days! We’ll have 3 days in Honolulu to tour Pearl Harbor, the Pineapple Plantation, Diamond Head, and other Oahu sites. Then we board the cruise ship for a 7 day inter-island cruise. Needless to say, we can’t wait!

We have had a busy end to our summer. We went to my cousin’s wedding on 8/18/07. Congratulations to Susie and Ray! Sue, you looked like a princess! Last weekend, our friends Liz & Brandon came to visit along with their 15 month old son, Luke. Luke loved our dog, Ben. And Ben was SO patient with Luke—it was adorable.

We also practiced last Saturday in the heat & humidity (104 degree heat index). I swear, I lost about 8 gallons of sweat. I have been doing well with the walk/run, though. Right now, I am on a 6/1 cycle, and it’s been going well. As my cardiovascular endurance improves, it will become easier still, and I can decrease the interval. My hope is to get to a 4-5/1 or 8/2 interval by race day. I felt less like I was going to die at this week’s practice, so that’s encouraging!

Truth be told, I haven’t been very good about training lately. I have just been so tired these past couple of weeks that it’s been hard to peel myself out of bed in the morning. Between all our running around, and stress at work, I don’t think I am sleeping properly when I get to bed. Tomorrow is my day off, so I am turning over a new leaf. I know I need to work hard to be successful. I even plan on training when we are away on vacation—I look forward to telling you all about pounding the pavement in paradise!

In fundraising news, I am proud to let you all know that I will officially be walking in honor of Noelle Naylor. Noelle may be familiar to you, since I have mentioned her in previous posts. Noelle has been battling Leukemia for most of her short life. Shortly after her third birthday in April, she received her 2nd stem cell transplant at DUKE. A few weeks ago, we learned that Noelle had relapsed again, and her parents were told that there were few treatment options left. They made the decision to return home to Wisconsin and enjoy whatever time they have left with their family. Last week, they went to Disney World, and had a wonderful time!

According to Dave’s (her dad) last post, Noelle’s doctor in Wisconsin has not given up hope, either. There is a possibility of starting some medications that are in clinical trials right now. We are all praying for Noelle’s miracle! Here is the link to Noelle's family's website: http://www.caringbridge.org/wi/noelle/index.htm

Through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training, I will be raising money in honor of Noelle Naylor. I want to help local families like hers in this time of need. I want to fund research in the hopes of finding miracles, and finding a cure. You can help! The link to the donation site will be set up very soon, so make your contribution to finding a cure!

No Gazelles were harmed during this week's training

2007-08-13T09:25:00.000-04:00

We had a great kick off party for Team in Training the other night (pictures coming soon). One of our team heroes for the season, Dave, came to tell us his story of fighting cancer. Thanks to research funded in part by team in training, Dave was put on a pill called Glivac that put him into remission and saved his life. He has a big TNT banner that he has everyone on the team sign each season. It was really cool to see all the signatures—I was (barely) able to find some blank space to sign our names. But, after all, you’re not an official team member until you sign the banner!

Dan and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend IN STYLE! We stayed at The Four Seasons in Philadelphia. IT WAS SO NICE! (Really, we wanted to move in.) And the location worked out great—we had practice at Kelly Drive on Saturday morning, so we just walked the mile from the hotel to the art museum. The weather was PERFECT! There was a nice breeze early in the morning, and even though it warmed up during the day, there was zero humidity. It actually reminded me of the weather on our wedding day (thanks again, Grandma Burke!).

The first practice of the season was so much different than our first practice from last season. Not only were we wearing far fewer layers than in January, but I was so much more EXCITED than last time. The first time around, everything is so new, and you have so many self doubts that the fear kind of limits how much you enjoy yourself. Don’t get me wrong, I had a GREAT experience during training for San Diego. But now that the “fear factor” is gone, it’s ten times better!

Our assistant coach, Linda caught up with me at around the ¼ mile mark. “I was just checking to see if you still wanted to try the walk/run on for size,” she said. So we did. For the first cycle, we walked 4 minutes and ran for 1. (Let’s all keep in mind that this is pretty much the first time I have run longer than 7 seconds in a row since the sixth grade.) All in all, the first cycle wasn’t too bad. Then we hit the second cycle. I thought my chest was going to explode, and my legs were going to fall off. (We did pass several people, which probably was FAR more exciting for me than it should have been.) The next cycle, I think we stretched it out to 6 or 7 minutes and ran for 1. We finished the 3 miles at a 16:30 pace! For non-marathoners, trust me, this is awesome for me! I finished San Diego (albeit injured) at about a 19 minute pace. If I keep this up, I really will complete Disney within the time constraints! I am so proud of myself!

Linda and I were laughing about the other runners out on the Drive. Why is it that we were surrounded by all these graceful and effortless gazelles with perfect ponytails, who barely looked like they were breathing hard?? There I was, red-faced, dripping in sweat, and lumbering along like a water buffalo! Oh, how I want to be a gazelle!

This week, I took special satisfaction in being able to cheer our new teammates on! Because, even though the fear is gone, I remember it well. I remember finishing dead last at every practice and feeling like a complete doofus! So, to all those teammates who have stumbled on this journal, I encourage you to read my first entries. Trust me when I tell you that, if you listen to your coaches and put in the time, YOU WILL DO THIS! Look at how far you can come! “You can do 26.2!” “Havin’ fun with 13.1!”

Dear Reader, I need to end this entry on a sad note. My friends Matt & Cari got to know a family, whose daughter Noelle has leukemia. Noelle has gone through 2 stem cell transplants. Last week, they received the terrible news that Noelle has relapsed again. Their treatment options are all but exhausted, so the family has decided to end the torture of chemotherapy, and spend whatever time they have left enjoying their family. They spent some time last week at the beach, and next week will fly off to Disney World to have some much deserved fun.

I included this somber note to remind us all why organizations like Team In Training are so important. Someday, I want to train to celebrate THE END of diseases like leukemia. Naylor family, we’ve never met. But there are hundreds of perfect strangers all over the US and Canada (and especially here in PA) that are walking, running, and cycling for a cure. We will never give up hoping and praying for Noelle. We believe in miracles. One mile at a time.

~Sara

Just Call Me Dorothy

2007-08-07T14:50:00.000-04:00

"I'M MELTING! I'M MELTING! Oh, What a world! What a world!" ~The Wicked Witch of the West, from The Wizard of Oz

So anyone that is in the area knows that it's been a little warm here lately. Today's heat index is 105 degrees! Ugghh! And let's not even start on the humidity. It's the kind of weather that in the morning when you go outside, you just can't breathe because it's so oppressive.

I'd like to claim that I've been too hot to blog, and that's why it's been so long since you, dear reader, had a glimpse of my musings, but I'd be lying. I've just been plain old busy-- at work, with friends visiting us on the weekends, and with TNT events during the week.

We are looking forward to our area kickoff this Thursday night. It will be a fun night with new members and old, coaches, mentors and honored team heroes. Dan and I are really looking forward to meeting our new teammates! It should be a great night.

Last night, we were over at TNT Central to help with "Call Night". This is when we all make follow up phone calls to folks that signed up for information meetings, but either were unable to attend or attended but did not register for an event. It meant alot of messages on answering machines, but it's a great way to keep people connected and help them become involved in this fantastic experience! There were about 6 of us, so the calls went pretty quickly.

We are also excited about our first team practice this Saturday. What a difference from our very first TNT practice in January. Instead of being too cold, I think we will be too hot! Dan and I will actually be staying in Philadelphia this weekend to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. (AAWW!) We will go to practice in the morning on Saturday and then we have tickets to see the King Tut exhibit at the museum. We're having a nice dinner out on Saturday night, and then it's back to our "real life" on Sunday. It will be nice to "get away", without really going "away"!

Thanks for checking in, as usual. As the season gets going, I am sure we'll have plenty of funny stories and pictures. But let's all remember the reason for Team in Training to begin with. We're helping to find a cure for blood cancers, one race at a time! I should have the links up for donations soon. This season, my goal is 3000$! Please help me get there if you can!

GO TEAM!
~Sara

Standing Straight (or not so much...)

2007-07-25T13:01:00.000-04:00

Well, the results are in! I went for my follow up appointment with the chiropractor on Monday. Evidently, the reason that I have the left hip (and possibly even the left foot) pain is because of the way my spine is shaped, and therefore gravity is pushing down on the nerves.

We all have curvature of our spines normally. This curvature helps our bodies with shock absorption when walking, exercising, and even standing (gravity). My neck curve is not great. In fact, it's past STRAIGHT (which would be bad enough) and it's curved the opposite way. So all the nerve roots that come out of my cervical vertebrae (the ones closest to my head) aren't able to function at 100%. I also have the beginning of arthritis of the spine, which, according to Dr. Jeff, can be helped and isn't the end of the world-- we just really don't want it to get any worse! When I looked at the X-ray of my spine from the front views, that's when I really saw how I can have pain because my spine is misaligned. It's slightly s-shaped instead of being straight up and down-- not as severe as scoliosis, obviously. So gravity pulls from my right shoulder across the body to my left hip, instead of an even distribution. The reason I had pain in my foot after 8 miles is because my body couldn't take the constant pounding on that side. And when I got to 13 miles, the hip couldn't cushion the blows either.

I asked Dr. Jeff how much of this has to do with my weight. He said some, but not as much as you might think. This has to do with the spinal structures. So yes, extra body weight means extra pull. But if I weighed 99 pounds and had the same X-rays, it's likely I would have the same problems. Also, the inserts that the podiatrist gave me are really only adding a little extra arch support, which I can do with a different pair of sneakers, so they aren't really helping with much. So far, the new shoes that I have for walking have been fine, so we'll see. I have learned my lesson, and will be going back to my friends at the Running Place to re-evaluate everything in another few months, once we start log in some serious miles.

I have had 2 adjustments already. The first one was strange. It didn't hurt at all! First he had me lay on my right side and he tried to adjust my lower back. There was no crack or pop or anything, and I didn't feel all that different. Then he did my upper neck-- that was LOUD! Afterwards I felt a little lightheaded, which Dr. Jeff said was normal. I guess when you release the pressure on nerves that have been compressed, and they are finally able to send more signals to your brain--- well, it's like fireworks with all your synapses firing. I went again for a second adjustment, and this time, I was lying on my stomach and he did something to my lower back. That time, I felt a small pop and it felt like something had released the tension there. He also did an adjustment of my back (shoulder blades) area that had another dramatic snapping noise, and again, it felt like some of the overall pressure was released.

Dr. Jeff was also able to help my feet. I sprained my right ankle about 3 years ago, and it just hasn't been the same since. He said that some of the bones and ligaments were out of alignment, so he readjusted that. He also adjusted the bones in my left foot, especially where my bunion is. The bunion felt better instantly, and it hasn't hurt all day!

Dan and I have our first recruitment meeting for TNT tonight. We'll join Robyn and Jerry at the Running Place to share our experiences with prospective teammates. I can't wait to show off my medal and my race shirt again! Kick off is coming up in the beginning of August, and then we start our training on August 11th. I have been taking it easy with training. I am hoping next week to start a little more regularly. It was funny to look at the training schedule, and see 1 to 2 mile for the first couple of practices. I never thought I would get to the point when I felt like that wasn't alot!

Thanks for checking in here at our blog. We'll begin our fundraising for the Winter Marathon soon. Dan is going to help me tweak the website, so you may see some changes over the next few weeks. GO TEAM!

~Sara

Back Cracker

2007-07-19T12:24:00.000-04:00

I went to my first visit with the Chiropractor yesterday. It was kind of cool, actually. I met with Dr. Jeff Chamberlain in West Chester (www.chamberlainchiropractic.com) , and had a very thorough assessment (and coming from a Nurse Practitioner, this is a high compliment), as well as x-rays. I really hope that he is able to help me with my hip pain. He has to look over my films and get a plan together, and then I will go back on Monday to hear if he can help me, and how. So no snap-crackle-pop adjustments or anything yet...

But here are a few things I have learned about my spine already:

* Evidently, my neck vertebrae are "a mess" (his term, not mine).

* I weigh 9 pounds more on the right side of my body than the left (I literally had to stand on two scales at the same time, and they look at the difference-- one scale is usually enough to put me into a tailspin, so I was FREAKING OUT when I learned there would be two at once. Dr. Jeff kept telling me to concentrate on standing still, but since I was so freaked out, this was a little easier said than done).

* The weight of a dime on a nerve can decrease it's ability by 60% (little Trivial Pursuit tidbit for you).

* There may be a connection between fertility and chiropractic. I thought this was particularly interesting, on a personal and professional level. It makes sense to me , though. Since all the nerves in our bodies start in the spinal cord, if the spine is "out of whack" (another stellar medical term) and the nerves aren't able to function the way that they should, the organs they enervate may be affected. There was a study in which 15 women with histories of various infertility issues received chiropractic care, and 14 of them got pregnant. I don't know what real scientific proof this offers, but it does, at the very least, raise an interesting theory about a link between the two. And, at this point, we'll take all the help we can get!

I'll update on Monday and let you all know what the verdict is... I hope this helps! I haven't been able to start training yet, and I am getting anxious to GET GOING (ha)!

~Sara

Old Home Week

2007-07-12T12:25:00.001-04:00

Last night, Dan and I went to Kildaire's in King of Prussia for our Summer TNT Reunion. We got to catch up with our teammates and coaches from San Diego, as well as those team members that went to Anchorage, AK, for the Mayor's Midnight Run Marathon on June 23.

Hearing about the Alaska trip was great! Evidently, there was a moose hanging out by the side of the race course at mile 3. A real moose! That must have been so neat! Our teammate Lucretia also said that the daylight was hard to get used to. Since it's summer, the sun doesn't set. There is a "dusk" at around 1:30am, but it only lasts for an hour or so. She said the good part about the hotel was that the curtains were really thick, so when they were closed it was pitch black in the room.

We are preparing for our Recruitment Meetings for the Winter Season. As mentors, we will attend 2 meetings along with coaches and admin. staff. The big season kickoff party is in the beginning of August. Then, on August 11, we have our first group practice, and start our training all over again!

I think I mentioned this before, but I am going to try to do a walk/run training program this time. I would walk for 4 mins. and run for 2 mins. (for example) for the entire 13 miles. This will increase my speed, and hopefully allow me to keep a faster pace. I told Jerry about my plans, and he gave me a sort of incredulous look. I was a little bit mad at him-- where's the faith, Jer? I am going to go out and kick some mouse-butt in January!

I really feel like I would have had a stronger finish time if it hadn't been for the hip pain I had during the race. I have an appointment at the chiropractor next week, to see if they can help me. I have been sort of scared to start training again. I went out once a few days after the marathon, and as soon as I picked up any sort of speed, I had the same pinch. Then, I have the pain at random times (and not even every day): when I am walking to the train from work, when I am standing at work. At one point, I went to sit at my desk at work, and I thought my whole leg was going to go out from under me. It was so painful, my eyes watered.

I went to The Running Place-- a quick shout out to Joan, Pattie, and all our friends over there who evidently read this blog and POST IT ON A BULLETIN BOARD (I'm a little embarrassed, but a little flattered at the same time!)-- and got a different type of sneakers. The new ones are more stable, so hopefully that will help overall. I really notice a difference already, with the light walking that I do. The old shoes, I realize now, sort of let my feet slide around more--it's kind of hard to explain. But so far, so good with the new ones. The real test will be when I start actual training again, and when I learn how to run without having to call 9-1-1!

I have stopped using the inserts for my shoes. I was afraid that, even though the foot pain went away, that they caused the hip pain. I have called the podiatrist's office four times, and have not gotten a response. I guess I could make an appointment, but under principle, I refuse to pay a copay to someone who won't even return a stupid phone call. I'll be able to discuss the whole thing with the chiropractor next week, and I am hoping he can help me across the finish line, one adjustment at a time (heehee).

I plan to keep posting as we get into our new season, so I hope that you'll continue to read about my adventures! Thanks for checking in!

~Sara

Proof Positive

2007-07-02T17:05:00.000-04:00

2 posts in one day??? I must be making up for my chronic lack of posting! Here are some more pictures (Thanks Robyn!) from San Diego. Now I can actually prove I finished the race-- I am sure some of you were beginning to wonder since AIS had no pictures of me because obviously I wasn't out there long enough (ha!), I have no official time because they pulled up the mats, and I have Cheryl's medal because they ran out... so here you go!

Here's Dan and Karen at mile 4ish:
Me at the same spot (look, there are actually people BEHIND me):This is me coming up to the finish line, bawling my little eyes out:Jerry, Linda "Me Too" Hagarty, Randee, Me, Robyn, Cheryl, & LeeAnn right after I finished (I literally have no recollection of this picture being taken):Me and my very favorite coach ever, Jerry, winding down at the Shouthouse Piano Bar:Robyn and me at the Shouthouse (already looking a little tipsy, no?):Me and my very favorite husband ever, Dan (yup, a smidge tipsy here):
Me, Dan, Linda & Jerry in front of the Hotel Del Coronado:

Me, Dan, Robyn & Jerry in the same spot:Dan, me, Linda & Robyn having drinks on the porch of the Hotel Del (we could get used to this!):

Okay, there you go... unless anyone comes up with some photos I haven't seen yet, I think that's the last of them! Don't blame me~ you asked for it!

~Sara

An Exercise in Ridiculousness

2007-07-02T11:53:00.001-04:00

A certain running shoe company (which shall remain nameless lest we give them even MORE press) recently began an ad campain entitled "We are not Joggers". If you Google it, you will find an 11 page internet spread claiming that those of us who run a little slower are "half-assing it", and are not "real runners". I just got done writing a very strongly worded letter to the company (a la Marmie from Little Women when Amy gets the switch for taking limes to school). I ran into a similar attitude when I first told people I was going to do the Marathon: "You're doing a marathon??", they said, incredulously. "Yes, I'm doing a marathon." "Wait you're RUNNING a marathon?" "No, I'm walking." "Oh, well, okay then." As if the fact that I was walking makes any difference. When's the last time they did ANY sort of activity for 4 hours at a stretch??

The one thing I have learned from this training adventure is that it doesn't matter how fast or slow you go, just that you show up and do it. Thirteen point one miles is still thirteen point one miles, whether it takes you 2 hours or 4. Your shoes are still worn, your feet still hurt, and your spirits soar just as much as anyone else.

So boo-hiss to that running company, from which I will NEVER purchase any products. They say that when you have a bad experience with something, you are likely to tell 10 people. Well, I just told the entire internet. So there.

~Sara

Addendum: In the same vein, kudos to Reebok, who are marketing a brilliant strategy of late:

So I'll echo the words of the great John Bingham, "The Penguin", and my new idol: "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is I had the courage to start."

The Long Awaited Photo Album

2007-06-30T23:30:00.000-04:00

I hope the wait was worth it...

To see the captions, click on the little word bubble icon in the left corner. It goes a little fast, but if you pause and click the right arrow, you can view them any speed you want. Also, I think if you double click it will show larger photos. Enjoy!
~Sara

One for every mile

2007-06-26T14:49:00.000-04:00

Before you ask, I AM WORKING ON THE PICTURES I PROMISE!! I have a ton, so I am trying to figure out the best way to get them on the blog without doing it one by one. My computer savvy brother sent me some suggestions, so I will work on it tomorrow!

Well, I weighed myself last week before my birthday, and I have now lost 13 pounds! One pound for every mile of the race. At this rate, I have about 4 more races to go, and I'll be happy... no really, I am pretty proud of myself.

In TNT news, Dan and I were selected to be mentors for the Winter season! I plan to be a fundraising mentor, and Dan will be a non-fundraising mentor. We'll have to cover his travel/race costs separately, but he'll train for the full marathon. I am going to do the half this time. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention WHERE the race will be...

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm a little excited about doing the Disney Marathon, if you hadn't guessed. I am absolutely Mickey-obsessed!

Disney is very strict about their pace times, though. So I will have to train even harder than last time. I bought a book called Marathoning for Mortals by John Bingham. He's "the penguin" that spoke at our pasta party. It has several training programs in it, but I think I am going to do a walk/run program for Disney. For example, I will walk for 4 minutes, and run for 2 for the entire 13 miles (or 5/1 or 3/2 or whatever). I think it will increase my speed enough. My goal is to finish in under 03:30:00! I am going to kick some mouse-butt!

We are really excited to continue our involvement with such a great cause! I'll keep this blog going, since I found out so many people actually LIKE to read my updates. Thanks for checking in!

-Sara

The Race Report

2007-06-15T15:13:00.000-04:00

This posting will probably be a long one, so just like in a marathon, you should probably pace yourselves.

The night before the race, Beth, Dan and I went out to dinner with Beth’s brother Dan and his wife Arlene. They took us to a great Italian place. We figured out pretty quickly that it was prom weekend—there were several large tables of kids in tuxes and ballgowns. Beth and I spent most of the beginning of dinner picking out the dresses that we would and would not allow our daughters to wear. I must be getting old, because I thought a couple of the selections were racier than wedding night lingerie! But we loaded up on carbs and went back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

I actually slept okay that night. I woke up a few times during the night, but overall, I think I was well rested. Though, when the alarm goes off at 3:30am, there’s no getting around the unpleasantness! I had showered the night before, and was planning to wear a hat during the race, so we basically rolled out of bed and got ready. We slathered the Aquaphor on our feet to prevent chafing, and on other areas (like underarms believe it or not) to prevent chafing. I packed a little bag with a change of shoes for after the race—I had gotten a cute pair of crocs at the expo on Saturday, and since UPS was offering a “bag check”, I thought I would take advantage of it.

We went downstairs to the lobby for about 4:15. We met up with the rest of our team, and ate breakfast. Luckily a bunch of people had brought peanut butter, so I had something with protein to put on my bagel. We took our group photo and got on the bus.

When we arrived at Balboa Park, it was still dark out. We walked up the hill and across the grass and found our “Eastern PA Spot”, and all just sort of sat around waiting. Some of you may know that I have a tendency to cry when I get nervous (anyone remember me sitting on my driveway the morning of our wedding?) So every time someone would ask how we were feeling or whatever, I would cry. I was terrified! All sorts of things go through your head—will I be able to do this? Will I let everyone down? Will my foot start to hurt? What if I have to pee and the line for the port a potties is too long? So I called my friend Liz, back in CT (it was 8:30am there). Liz has done a couple of TNT events, and is training for the Nike Women’s Marathon in October. She made me laugh—just the sound of her voice helped me to relax a little bit. Thanks a million, Lizzer-Bean!

We visited the port-a-potties a couple of times. The lines weren’t terrible—I had thought they would be worse from what everyone had told us. It was just a germaphobe’s nightmare, though. I was very thankful to have remembered to bring hand sanitizer… and once other people found out I had it, I was a VERY popular girl!

The start of the race was at 6:30am. We all lined up with 24,000 of our closest friends. It took us 13 minutes to get from our corral to the starting line! A very weird feeling: You sort of inch along and all of a sudden, you pass the starting mat and it’s like “okay here we go”! Dan gave me a kiss as we started, and he walked with me for a couple of minutes. Then I sent him to catch up with his walking partner, Karen. As I began to walk, I noticed my left hip began to pinch. With every step, it felt like a nerve-shock or something. It was more annoying than anything else at that point, but it made me really nervous to think about what it would feel like at mile 10! It had been bothering me since we arrived in San Diego. I just assumed it was just the way I was sitting on the plane or something. I had stretched that hip really well before the start, because I was worried about it, but by ½ mile it was clear that I was going to have a problem with it.

At the first mile marker, I saw my coaches Jerry and Linda. Linda put my cell phone # in her phone, just in case I needed anything. Jerry told me he would meet me between miles 7&9 and that he would walk me to the finish line! I was still pretty excited at this point. I thought I was doing well. My hip was really bothering me, but I knew if I just kept going, I would start to feel better. I usually have a tough first 2 miles and then feel really good. Just before the 2nd mile marker, I heard a voice behind me. “Are you doing the half or the full?” I turned around, thinking it was maybe another TNT member who needed a walking buddy. I saw a woman with a TNT singlet and a witch’s hat on her head. She was the Sweeper!!!!!!!!!! (insert foreboding music here)

In a marathon, there are several “pacers”. They run or walk at a certain pace, so that if people are looking to finish in a particular time, they can keep track of their pace. The “sweeper” is the slowest pace walker. She’s the one that makes you get on the bus if you aren’t keeping up with the slowest pace. She was very nice to me, I have to say that. She introduced herself and just said that she was the sweeper and that my whole goal for the day should be to keep ahead of her. Okay, I thought, now I’m screwed! You know you’re in trouble when the freakin’ sweeper INTRODUCES herself to you! At that point, all sorts of self doubt flashed through my head. Now I’m going to have to call my coaches and tell them that I couldn’t finish. I’m going to have to tell everyone at work that I failed. I’m going to have to call everyone that made donations and apologize! But then I thought, well she isn’t sweeping me right NOW so I might as well keep going.

So I took a deep breath, put in my ipod, and found my stride. I felt really good from about 2.5 miles all the way to about 6.5 miles. My hip had stopped hurting, my foot wasn’t bothering me at all, I was actually having FUN! I cheered along with the local cheerleaders, I snapped my fingers to the local bands, I winked at the handsome marine that called me “ma’am” (heehee). I had long conversations with God. I rewrote the essay for my PhD application in my head. I designed the window treatments for my parents office. I sent good thoughts to Dan, and hoped he was thinking of me too. I walked all along downtown San Diego with thousands of other people in purple singlets, and never saw “the Sweeper” again! And I finally learned what endorphins and “runner’s high” are. I have never felt the way that I did for those 4 miles!

At mile 4, in the midst of my euphoria, I saw Robyn (our season coordinator) and Renee (the NJ season coordinator). They were standing by the side of the road, taking pictures and ringing cowbells! It was so good to see them! The weirdest and most wonderful thing, though, was that there were staff and coaches from all over the country along the course. And, since we had our names written on our singlets, people would call out your name: Looking good, Sara! Keep it up, Sara! Relax your shoulders and keep your hands up, Sara! At one point, a group of cheerleaders started with “Gimme an S. Gimme an A. Gimme an R. Gimme an A. GO SARA!” It was awesome. All along the road, there were spectators. People were out on their balconies in some of the high rise apartments, and would wave and yell to us! People had signs and noisemakers. Everywhere I looked there was purple and green, and someone yelling “GO TEAM”!

At mile 6, the pain came back to my hip. Again, it was just sort of annoying at first, but after another ½ mile, it was really painful. I took a quick port-o-potty break (there was NO line!) But when I came back onto the course 5 minutes later, I could feel my pace slipping. I must have had a grimace on my face, because a spectator from the sidewalk came out into the street. She had tears running down her face. I took out my headphones and she said, “I’m a survivor. Thank you for doing this. If I can do chemo, you can do this! Keep going!” I began to cry too, and not from the pain in my hip. So I plodded along, walking for a woman whose name I didn’t even know.

At mile 7, the course changed. We had been walking all through downtown San Diego: in neighborhoods that we had toured during our scavenger hunt, near the harbor and our hotel, near the convention center that had the expo. Now it turned into a highway. So for the next 4 miles, we walked uphill on a slant to the left. There were no spectators, few bands. Just us, the pavement, and the very hot San Diego sun that decided to come out from the clouds just as I started on the entrance ramp. I went from an absolute high to an absolute low in about a mile. With every step, the pain in my hip got worse and worse. Since the road was sloped to the left, much of the strain from walking was on the left side, and I think this made things even worse. Again, the self doubt took hold. I tried to just listen to my music, and get back in the groove, but I had really lost it. I tried to enjoy the scenery of the California hills in the distance, but all I do was feel the red hot pain in my hip. I considered waiting for the van and just riding it to the finish. I knew Jerry was going to meet me somewhere soon, so I held on. Every little hill I got to the top of, I would look down for Jerry. Step, step, step. No Jerry. Step, step, step. No Jerry. Step, step, step. No Jerry. I actually thought maybe he had given up on waiting for me because I was too slow. I am ashamed to admit that now, because I know he never would have left me out there alone. It seemed like forever, but at mile 8.5, I saw him down the hill. He waved, and I burst into tears.

I composed myself quickly, though. It was just good to have a familiar person to be there. He offered to stretch out my hip, but I really was afraid that if I stopped walking, I would never restart. So we kept going. Along the route, we picked up LeeAnn, one of the coaches from Lehigh Valley. She was so great to me! She talked about all sorts of random stuff to keep me occupied. We talked (well, she talked, and I tried not to cry) about Pirates of the Caribbean, triathalons, and what we wanted to eat after the race. At one point, around mile 10, I asked them both: “What if I can’t do this? What if I let everyone down?” Jerry looked me straight in the eyes and said “You can do this. And you will do this. I believe in you.” I told you he was a great guy.

When we got to mile 11, the highway ended and we turned back into the city streets. It was so much better. I kept saying “I can do 2 miles. 2 miles is nothing. I did more in my very first practice!” When we turned the corner off the highway ramp, there was a man standing there with a sign that said “THANK YOU TEAM IN TRAINING FROM A 10 YEAR LEUKEMIA SURVIVOR!” He gave us all a high-five as we walked by. Those little moments, like the woman at mile 6ish, helped me to remember the real reason I was walking. I walked for so many people, some close to me, some complete strangers. It was really an empowering feeling. At mile 12, Jerry remarked “Wow! You’re turning up the speed now! It’s because we’re so close to the finish!” And I said, “We are? Please don’t b***sh** me right now, Jerry, I can’t deal with it!” We all had a good laugh at that one (I guess I had hit the “bite me” phase of the marathon. We’d heard about this from John Bingham, the Penguin. He said that no matter how much you love your running partner, you get to a point where you physically can’t stand the words coming out of their mouths!)

And then the moment came… off in the distance, I could see the finish line. I could see purple, green, and white balloons everywhere. I heard cowbells and cheers. I passed the 13 mile mark. Only .1 miles to go! I could see my other coach, Linda running toward us from the finish line. Just past her, I saw my entire ½ mile walk team, the coordinators, and hundreds of other participants and coaches waiting for me. They were all yelling my name. Guess what I did then? Yup, I started to cry again. I am tearing up just remembering the moment. I couldn’t believe that my team had all waited for me! It meant so much to me to feel their support, pride and love. It was truly one of the most wonderful moments of my life. Through my tears, I tried to thank LeeAnn, Linda, and especially Jerry. But I couldn’t find the words. LeeAnn kept saying “Don’t thank us now, you want to look good for your picture!” I ran the rest of the way in, and collapsed into the group hug. Everyone was crying and cheering! I am not 110% sure of my time, though. I finished after they pulled up the chip mats. Robyn said she looked at the clock and it was 04:17:37. If you subtract the 13 minutes it took me to get to the starting line, that makes my unofficial official time 04:04:37! Not too shabby!

I don’t really remember the next few minutes. I was so numb! I hugged Jerry, and thanked him from the bottom of my heart (still crying of course). I thought, though I am sure he’ll never admit to it, that I saw a little tear in his eyes too. My mentor, Cheryl, took me over to get my time chip taken off my shoe, and we checked in at the desk. Turns out that they ran out of medals because too many people who said they were finishing the full ended up just doing the half. My disappointment must have shown, because Cheryl gave me her medal. She told me how proud of me she was, and that I deserved to wear the medal! Thanks Cheryl, that really meant a lot to me!

I called my dad and my friend Lisa right away. I also called Faith and Chris! I told Faith to tell Chris I had just walked 13 miles—one mile for every lumbar puncture he had to undergo. Then Cheryl and I stood in line for the bus that would take us to the main finish line. While we were waiting, we cheered other TNT members crossing the finish line. It was great for me to be part of someone else’s fantastic finishing moment. We finally got on the bus, and who do I see? The Sweeper! I smiled at her and said “Oh my God, you’re the sweeper. I met you at mile 2 and you scared me enough to start walking faster!” She laughed and replied, “Why do you think I wear the witch’s hat?”

Cheryl and I stood on the bleachers and watched the rest of our team come in. We saw Dan finish! It was wonderful— and surprise, I cried again! I was so happy to have my nice comfy crocs to change into! Dan and I went to the TNT tent and had the most wonderful peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I ever tasted! I am sure they were nothing special, but peanut butter has never smelled so good! They had all sorts of stuff for TNT members—food, water, Gatorade, even a kiddie pool with ice water for our feet. We piled on the bus and went back to the hotel to shower. Then we went to the victory party with our team, and then out to a dueling piano bar called the Shouthouse. But that’s another story for another day…

I hope this long awaited update lives up to your expectations. I still have trouble putting it all down in words. What I’ll say is this: Aside from the day that Dan and I got married, it was the best day of my entire life. I can’t wait to do it again!

Pictures to come (once I figure out how to set up a flickr slide show or something..)
-Sara, aka Marathon Girl

Small World

2007-06-08T15:45:00.001-04:00

My cousin Debby used to live in Texas. One of her friends has been involved with Team in Training for a while now. Her husband was diagnosed with a blood cancer a few years ago. Dana Susan was with the Gulf Coast Texas team in San Diego, and in a room full of thousands of TNT members, I FOUND HER!!!! I went up to a table and said "Are you all from Texas?" (Wish I could pull off a y'all, but not so much...) They said yes, and, surprised, I said I was looking for Dana-Susan. And she smiles and says "Oh! That's me!"

Below is the email she sent to Debby, as well as a picture from the pasta party. More pictures soon, and a race recap, I promise!

-Sara

Hey Deb, I met your cousin in San Diego. There were 3900 TNT participants and loads of coaches, mentors, etc. So it was a great weekend with 12.5 million raised for blood cancer. I'm glad your cousins did this race and I hope they had a blast and will do it again some day.

When you speak to Sara, please congratulate her from a Texas Gulf Coast TNT Coach. And please thank her for doing this for this great cause. My husband surely benefits from this research and our whole family benefits from the patient & family services. Also tell her that I rang my cowbell for so long at the pasta party that I have three huge blisters on my fingers! But of course she and all the other participants were worth it.

The Wrong Words

2007-06-07T11:55:00.001-04:00

I have started this entry so many times, and have been unable to finish it. I find it just about impossible to put our experiences into words. It seems that I can’t find the right words to express the emotions that we felt this weekend.

Let me start by saying that WE FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are both so proud of ourselves, each other, and our fellow teammates! I finished the half marathon in a little more than 4 hours, and Dan finished the full marathon in 6 hrs, 43 mins. Even more of an accomplishment is that, nationally, the San Diego Marathon Team In Training raised 12.5 million dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Wow! Thank you to everyone who was a part of that. If you donated $5, $50, or $500--- together we made a difference!

We arrived in San Diego on Friday morning, and took a bus over to our hotel. During the weekend, we traveled as a division—Southeast PA, Delaware, and New Jersey. After checking in to our rooms and getting settled, the team went to the Marathon Expo and picked up our race numbers. Dan and I each got T-shirts to commemorate our 1st marathon.

Friday night, the team (with our adopted teammate Beth) went on a Scavenger Hunt Tour of the Gaslight district in downtown San Diego. It was A LOT of walking—I think all of us were a little worried that we would be worn out for the marathon on Sunday, but it was a good way to warm up and stay loose. The last stop on the tour was the SIDEBAR, where we had really good pizza and drinks. We went home at about 9pm—we were really tired after a full day of travel and sightseeing.

Saturday morning, we met Beth and took her over to the Expo (her flights were a mess, and she didn’t get to CA until 4:00pm Friday). We stopped at Starbucks for breakfast with our new friend Steve, who has run in 10 marathons! Steve and his wife Renee are part of the New Jersey section of our division, and they were on our team for the scavenger hunt. We walked through Seaport Village on the way back to the hotel—a cute little shopping area near the harbor.

Dan and I took the bus over to the Team In Training Pasta party that afternoon. Our coaches had said they would meet us there—which was strange since all the other activities had been done as a team. We stood in line with thousands of other TNT members. As we got closer to the entrance, we heard cheers and cowbells and saw a sea of purple and green balloons! We realized that it was our coaches and mentors. All the staff and support crew were there from all over the country to cheer us on! It was overwhelming to see all those people that believe in you! When our group saw Dan and me, they went NUTS! I hugged one of our mentors, Sam, and started to cry! Other coaches and mentors who didn’t even know me saw this and started cheering for me as well—“Go Sara! Great Job Sara!” I have tears in my eyes just remembering the moment.

The pasta party was great. There were a couple of speakers during the afternoon. One guy is called “The Penguin”. I guess he’s pretty famous in running circles—famous for being SLOW. He’s my kind of guy! He had advice for all of us first time marathoners: “Get in line for the port-a-potty early and when you’re done get right back in line”, “If they give you 7 hours to finish the marathon, why would you try to do it any faster?” We also heard from Jill, a TNT member from Canada. She was diagnosed with a blood cancer 4 years ago, and her friend ran the marathon for her. Recently, Jill went into remission, and was running the marathon on Sunday for herself (her friend came back to do it for a second time)! Jill’s story was a great reminder of our purpose for fundraising. We all returned to the hotel and had our final team meeting. The coaches gave us some great “pep talks” and we decorated our singlets for the race. We also took a moment to remember 4 very special heroes to our team. 3 of our teammates lost spouses or fiancés to blood cancers in the last 12+ months. We also celebrated our teammate and mentor Randee, who battles chronic leukemia every day. Randee completed her 3rd marathon on Sunday with us!

That night, we went out to dinner with Beth and her brother & sister in law. We had great Italian food—nothing better than carb loading! We went back to the hotel, laid out all our gear, and went to bed. We woke up at 3:30am the morning of the race. I’ll make a separate post about race day, since there is SO much to tell you! Sunday night we went to the victory party and then out to a dueling piano bar with our team. We had a great time!

On Monday, we slept in and packed all our stuff. The hotel held our bags for us, since our flight didn’t leave until 10pm. We had lunch with Beth at the hotel and then went on the trolley tour of San Diego with our head coach Jerry, his wife and season coordinator Robyn, and our assistant coach Linda. It was a really nice and relaxing day. We went all over the city and then over to Coronado. We visited the Hotel Del Coronado (the Grand Floridian in Disney was modeled on this hotel) and Linda and I dipped our toes in the Pacific Ocean. Even though the rest of the day was overcast and cool, the sun came out for about 2 hours, and we were able to enjoy the a drink on the porch of the hotel!

Our flight home on Monday night was pretty uneventful. I set off the metal detector because I forgot to take off my race medal—it was pretty funny because I was checking my pockets to see if I had keys or something on me, and the security guard says “Um, ma’am, it might be that large medal around your neck.” Duh. Some blondes never change…

So that’s it in a nutshell. I will post a race play-by-play sometime soon. I think I am still processing the day… All I can say is this: It was the toughest, most wonderful experience of my life. And I can’t wait to do it again.

-Sara

ps: you can check out some pictures from our friend Karen at her website. Karen lost her husband Trevor to blood cancer, and she completed the marathon in his memory. When she introduced us to her mom, Karen said "this is Dan, he's the fastest guy on our team. And this is his wife, Sara, she's the... um... most IMPROVED on our team". Ha!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kabs77/sets/72157600309217991/

The Great Weight Debate

2007-05-31T09:31:00.000-04:00

I know I said my next post would be after marathon, but I just HAD to share my great news:

I am in a wedding at the end of June, and bought the bridesmaids dress a couple of months ago. It fit fine, but I was definitely going to have to be on my "best behavior" until the wedding. I tried it on yesterday with the appropriate accessories, and...

THE DRESS IS TOO BIG! {and the crowd goes wild}

I also weighed myself, and I have lost about 8 pounds over the last few months. So my metabolism must be waking up a bit! It's not as much as I would like, but it's something.

TTTTTTOOOOOOOOO BBBBBBIIIIIIIGGGGG!!!!!

Holy cow, can you tell I'm excited? See you at the finish line!

-Sara

The Verdict and A Dromedary

2007-05-29T14:49:00.000-04:00

Well, we were all relieved to find out that I will be able to participate in the marathon after all!

I went to the podiatrist on Friday afternoon at the Rothman Institute here in Philly. Since it's affiliated with Jefferson, and literally a block from my office, it was very convenient and they were nice enough to squeeze me in before the holiday weekend. I had some X-Rays done, and met with Dr. Tawell. First of all, there is no fracture. Thank goodness! The doctor thought that the pain I am having is just a repetitive overuse injury. Also, my feet flatten out a bit when I walk, which causes a weird distribution of weight and stress. So my foot is trying to compensate, and I end up putting alot of stress on the balls of my feet and also along the outside. The connective tissue and muscles get squashed and inflamed, and that's what's crippling me at mile 8. The doctor thought that shoe inserts for better support would be best. He asked when the race was-- "Don't say tomorrow!", he joked.

Since the race is so close, there isn't enough time to order orthotic inserts for my sneakers. Dr. Taweel gave me generic ones that should offer the support I need. There is a heel support to help me from turning my foot inward or outward, and there is a "metatarsal extender", which is kind of a ball of support beneath my big toe pad. It sort of feels like walking on a tennis ball a little bit, but not that severe. He had me walk back and forth across the room-- then he said "okay, close your eyes, you're on mile 10 of the race. Is that ball bothering you?" It actually felt a little better to have that support, so I think it will be fine!

We had our last practice on Saturday morning at Kelly Drive. What a difference from our 1st practice in January! Instead of 28 degrees when we finished, it was 82 degrees! Instead of moaning after 3 or 4 miles, we were joking that 6 or 8 miles was "a walk in the park". It's really neat to see how far we've come, and how much we have bonded as a team. My feet felt okay after the 6 miles- sore but not awful like the week before.

After practice, Dan and I drove up to NY visit our friends Becca, Ken and their 2 year old daughter Amelie for the long weekend. We took Amelie to the Bronx Zoo on Sunday. We had a great time! It's funny, you almost forget you are in one of the largest cities in the world (until you get in the car and turn left out of the parking lot and you are DEFINITELY in the Bronx!) It's kind of like when you're in the middle of Central Park and you look up and see skyscrapers surrounding you.

I took Amelie on a camel ride, which was interesting to say the least. Technically, I think it was a dromedary since it only had one hump. So we're standing in line, and we're watching the camels walk around this little track. One of them pooped, and Amelie said "OOOOHHH, that camel made poops and didn't even go on the potty!" It was hysterical. As the camels are making their rounds, Amelie decided that she HAD to ride the blue camel (they all had different colored blankets on their backs), and NOT the pink camel. Of course, when we get to the top of the stairs, old PINKY is waiting for us. I eventually convinced her that riding the cool pink camel was FAR more exciting than the dumb old blue camel, so it wasn't too much of a crisis. Then the Zoo employee lifted Amelie into the carriage. I was freaking out-- I kept asking the employee, "Do you have her? I don't think you have her. Can you hold onto her better?" Then I had to get onto the camel. Can I remind you how short I am??? I practically had to jump onto the camel's back. So now I'm hanging onto the carriage and the 2 year old for dear life-- all the while trying to sound really calm and positive about riding the PINK camel as opposed to the BLUE one-- and around we go. By the time I got used to the bumpy ride, we were a couple hundred feet from the end. And of course, they take your picture, just like on the roller coasters. But they take it about 30 seconds after you start. So in the picture Amelie smiling in that "2-yr-old-Is-this-okay-?-I-don't-know-if-I'm-really-having-fun-kind-of-way", and me smiling in that "adult-holy-crap-what-have-I-let-this-kid-talk-me-into-and-if-we-fall-off-and-land-in-camel-poop-I'm-going-to-lose-my-mind-but-I-need-to-pretend-I-am-having-fun-so-the-2-yr-old-doesn't-freak-out-kind-of-way". Becca was laughing so hard, she actually spent $14.95 to get a copy of the photo.

Can't tell you how glad I am that the camel moment is captured for posterity....

Well, the next time I post may be after the marathon, since we leave on Friday morning. I will be sure to take lots of pictures, and post them as soon as I can when we return. Please think of us on Sunday morning--pray for good weather, no blisters, and comfy insoles! I can't believe it's here already! Thanks for visiting our blog and also for all your support in the last 5 months!

-Sara

Pictures.... Finally!

2007-05-23T16:09:00.001-04:00

Without any further ado, here are some pictures from last week's TNT practice at Valley Green! Over the past few months, we've become kind of attached to our team. I suspect that, on the second weekend in June, we will sort of still want to go to practice-- if only just to see all our friends!

6:45am: Dan stops to admire some of the scenery at Valley Green in Chestnut Hill. We were SURE it was going to rain, but the sun came out and it was a beautiful morning! Good thing we started so early... as we were leaving, the entire street was packed with cars and people that wanted to enjoy the park!

Teammate Lucretia & Survivor Randee arrive for practice. Lucretia will be walking the full marathon in Anchorage, Alaska on June 23rd! Randee is a cancer survivor, and is at every practice to walk with us and encourage us!

7:00am: Assistant Coach Linda gives us a pre-practice pep talk! This week's topic? "Mental preparation for Race Day". We'll picture ourselves crossing the finish line! While Linda is talking, Teammate Lori, Mentor Cheryl, and Teammate Kathy do some stretching. Looks like Lori will be FLYING to San Diego. "I just flew in from Philadelphia, and BOY are my arms tired!"

7:20am: Before we start walking, Head Coach Jerry reviews our mileage for this practice: 20 miles for the Full Marathoners, 13 for the Half. Jerry likes to make sure we all know where we are going:

"Don't worry, it's pretty much impossible to get lost around here. If you end up on Lincoln Drive, you've gone too far!" Thanks, Jer! He's like a little Papa-Duck looking after us little ducklings...

7:31am: A tortoise eye's view of practice! We all set off on our walk on a lovely morning. The course is five miles up and five miles back.

8:30am: Look! It's Papa Duck Jerry watching over all of us cute and fuzzy ducklings!

Mile 4.5: I get lapped by Dan and Assistant Coach Ben. Ben's a legend: at the Walt Disney World Marathon, Ben did "The Goofy"-- the Half Marathon (13.1 miles) one day, and the Full Marathon (26.2 miles) the next! All I can say is WOW!!

11am (only 10 miles done because of my stupid foot): We are always happy to see our wonderful Summer Team Coordinator, Robyn, at the "finish line". She's also Head Coach Jerry's wife- guess that makes her our Mama-Duck! Robyn's always waiting for us with a smile, some encouraging words, and a big bucket of Gatorade! Thanks for everything that you do, Robyn!

My Left Foot

2007-05-21T09:03:00.000-04:00

So you wouldn't really think that a chubby-30-year-old-former-musical-theater-geek could get a sports injury. However, yours truly was practically crawling at the end of practice yesterday after only 10 miles! Here's what happened:

For the last couple of weeks, I have noticed some left foot pain in the outer part of the bottom of my foot to the heel. It happens to some extent on the right, but it is much more severe on the left. It usually doesn't bother me until about mile 8, so thus far, I have been okay. But yesterday was our dry run- I was supposed to complete the full 13.1 miles. I was walking at a great pace (I've come SUCH a long way since the beginning of training), with Head Coach Jerry. I mentioned the problems with my foot, and he suggested some stretching exercises. Sure enough, when we hit 8 miles, it started. I only walked another 1/2 mile before I had to slow WAY down. The pain was so bad, I felt like I was going to be sick! So naturally, when something hurts, your gait changes to compensate. I was trying hard to walk normally, but it was virtually impossible. Jerry ran ahead to get some BioFreeze gel that I could apply to my feet when I got back to the gazebo at the 10 mile mark. I literally had to bite my lip to keep from crying all the way in.

It took me about 2hrs & 15mins to walk the first 8 miles, and about 1 hour to to the last two! Jerry wouldn't let me go back out for the final 3 miles, for fear of making things worse. I was still in pain for the rest of the day. This morning, I feel a little better; the pain is not as blinding as it was yesterday, but it's definitely there. I am also nursing some lovely blisters because I was walking differently, so I basically just want to chop of my left foot.

I made an appointment at the Rothman Institute on Friday afternoon (the first available) with a podiatrist/sports medicine doctor. Hopefully, this is not a huge problem and he'll have a quick fix. I would be devastated if I couldn't do the marathon on June 3rd. Yes, we've raised all this money for a great cause, and that's the whole point. But it's a matter of pride for me as well. I have worked so hard and come so far! I feel really strong, and if I had not been in so much pain, I think I could have walked 20 miles yesterday! It's so frustrating to have a problem with only 2 weeks left until the race...

So everyone cross your fingers and toes. I'll keep you posted and let you all know what the Dr. has to say on Friday. I also have some pictures that I took at practice yesterday that I will try to figure out how to post tonight. Thanks for checking in!

-Sara

It's not easy bein' green...

2007-05-18T10:49:00.000-04:00

You'll notice I changed the look of our blog. I was just getting tired of the green. Though, I am NEVER tired of seeing green in the form of donations!

Today is our deadline with TNT for fundraising. Since we signed a committment to raise a minimum of $9,000, we are now responsible for the remaining funds. However, we do have 30 days after the marathon to continue to fundraise. All donations made between today and July 3 will be reimbursed to us.

If you have not yet made your donation-- don't wait any longer! DONATE TODAY! If you are making an online donation, please click on DAN'S link to the right of the screen. After our recommittment of $1000 in March, we decided to just pool all donations into one account. Since my minimum is fulfilled, we will now concentrate on Dan's. Thanks!

Together we can find a cure. Pardon the cliche, but Dan and I will work to find it "one step at a time". So that less children have to undergo the torture of chemotherapy; that less best friends have to wonder why someone can't come out and play; that less kids will have to wonder why their parent is sick; so that less spouses will have to bury the love of their lives too soon; so that less patients and their families have to endure the heartbreak of Leukemia & Lymphoma.

We are anxiously awaiting word about a possible corporate sponsorship from Dan's company. Since DaVita is a dialysis company, normally they do not make donations to unrelated causes. However, we are hoping they will approve our proposal for corporate sponsorship. Patients with Leukemia & Lymphoma are at higher risk of developing kidney failure, and, therefore, needing dialysis. We hope to hear later today if our proposal was accepted! Keep your fingers crossed!

-Sara

Have a little Faith

2007-05-17T12:23:00.000-04:00

I saw my patient, Faith, the other day. She came in for her 6 week check up, after delivering Colin in March. She and the baby looked great! I made sure to snuggle him and spoil him as much as possible before I had to run to see another patient. He has a full head of brown-ish hair (maybe borderline red-ish) and his hands are really big (maybe training for the 76ers?). Faith said that Chris is feeling well. He's finally finished with his lumbar punctures (13 in all) and will have to follow up with oncology every couple of months for a while, but his prognosis is excellent. This is really a new beginning for their new family. Faith told me that they found out about Chris' diagnosis right around the time they discovered they were expecting Colin, so it was a really hard time. But I think she and Chris both feel like the birth of the baby is also a re-birth for them as well! We pray that the Lymphoma will continue to stay in remission, and someday, it's nothing more than history. I am so happy for the 3 of them as they get their "fresh start"!

I promised I would call them from the finish line in San Diego! Let me know if you want to be on the list as well!

Our trip is coming up so fast! We have our "dress rehearsal" this weekend. I will complete the Half Marathon (13 Miles) and Dan will be doing 20 miles. Our friend Beth said she did her 20 miles last weekend and "only wanted to die a little bit" at the end. I think for all of us, it's not necessarily fatigue that gets us, but the little aches and pains that happen along the way. The muscles in back of my knees start to ache at around 8 miles, and sometimes my heels ache as well. Beth said her left foot tends to ache during the longer miles as well. I still get blisters after a long walk- though not NEARLY as bad as in the beginning. It must just be the way I walk, because I have the special (read "expensive") socks and the running shoes, and I apply Aquaphor beforehand... I thought about scheduling my post-marathon pedicure for the Weds. after we get home, but I am afraid that if I have even the smallest blister, I really won't want anyone touching me!

Our travel plans are coming together as well. We arrive in San Diego on Friday around lunchtime. I assume we'll check into the hotel and then go to the Marathon Expo, where we get our race bibs (I'm #22050) and can purchase souvenir t-shirts/sweatshirts etc. I will definitely be getting SOMETHING to commemorate my first marathon! Friday evening we are going on a scavenger hunt with our team (and honorary teammate Beth) around San Diego. The tour company breaks us into smaller groups and we sight see our way through the scavenger hunt. We end up at a neat bar, called the SIDE BAR, for dinner afterwards. I looked online, and it looks like a pretty cool place.

On Saturday, we have decided to go to SeaWorld. I kind of wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo, but both Dan and Beth had already been, so we decided to visit Shamu instead. We were also nervous about the Zoo on the day before the marathon-- apparently it is very large, and very hilly, and you walk ALOT. We certainly want to stay limber for the marathon the next day, but don't want to be fatigued! Saturday night is the big TNT pasta party with everyone from the organization. I expect there will be thousands of us from all over the country. My cousin has some friends from Texas that will be there, so I will try hard to find them in the crowd!

We'll need to go to bed early on Saturday night, because the race begins at 6:30 on Sunday morning. This means getting up and leaving the hotel at an ungodly hour! We are in corral 22, so we'll have a little bit of lag time before we really start. I've heard there is alot of pent up energy and excitement when we are waiting for corrals #1-21 to go ahead of us. Dan and I will be able to walk together at the start-- he usually stays with me for the first 1/2 mile. Then, he will set off on his longer legged pace, and I'll hang back with the rest of the tortoises (tortoi?). I anticipate being finished with the marathon in about 4 hours. The only drawback to being the only one from my team doing the half marathon is that I don't think there will be anyone waiting for me at the finish line. I mean, I am sure there will be plenty of people, just nobody who knows me. I plan to carry my camera and ask some stranger to take my picture at the finish line! I'll hang out at the finish line for Dan and Beth so I can get their picture too.

Sunday night there is a post-race victory party and concert. The concert headliner is Seal. We are still deciding whether or not we want to go to the concert. We were sort of thinking about it, for lack of anything else to do, but we are considering heading to Old Town San Diego. We hear the Mexican food there is amazing! Then there is a post-post victory party with the team at a piano bar in the GasLamp district-- do marathoners EVER sleep??

We'll probably do something low-key on Monday: shopping, lunch, or a visit to the waterfront. Our returning flight on Monday isn't until 10pm, so we'll be able to have a little more time to enjoy the area before we leave. That is, if we can WALK....

Thanks everyone for checking in with us. We are still about 3500$ from our goal. There is still time to make a donation! Our final money is due on Friday, at which time we will be charged for the remainder. We have 30 days from race day to continue to fundraise and then we will be reimbursed if necessary. Thanks for all of your support! GO TEAM!

-Sara

DJ Sara

2007-05-04T15:18:00.000-04:00

Thank God for the ipod! I don't know how I would ever get through the mileage if it weren't for my little nano. I can set it on shuffle and just go. I seem to walk to the beat of whatever song I am listening to. Unfortunately this means more mello artists are automatically out-- no James Taylor, Indigo Girls or Sarah McLaughlin, for the most part. (and would you believe that I have a song by Eminem on my ipod??)

I find that I can indulge my love of broadway musicals sometimes, but certain ones just don't work-- Les Mis is awfully sad to try and tackle 8 miles! RENT is a pretty good one, and Hairspray has some catchy songs too. The problem with listening to a musical soundtracks is that I am used to singing along at the top of my lungs (swear to God, I should have been a musical theater major in college...). Something tells me that spectators might think I'm nuts if I burst into "Goodmorning Baltimore!" on the Kelly Drive trail!

My friend, Liz, has done a couple of marathons. She said that at some point during her 26.2 miles, she started singing "White Wedding" by Billy Idol. Not really the whole song, just the chorus: "It's a... nice day... for a.. white wedding!" So every once in a while, no matter what I am listening to, I end up singing Billy Idol for a while. It really works!

The San Diego marathon that we will walk in is also the "Rock N Roll" marathon. So at every mile marker, a different local band will be playing. That's 26 bands in all! I think I will end up bringing my trusty ipod anyway, though. What if the band at mile 4 is playing something I don't like? Not sure I will be able to hear my music with everything going on, but I'd hate to figure out that I want my ipod halfway through and NOT have it with me. There are also supposedly several cheerleading squads from local schools that will be cheering us on. The course will be lined with spectators, of course, and our faithful coaches as well.

Thanks to everyone who has donated during the last few weeks. We are inching closer and closer to our goal! Thank you to everyone for your support and well wishes! It's so motivating to have everyone's support!

-Sara

NOT a vacation

2007-04-30T11:59:00.000-04:00

We are continuing to practice hard! This past weekend, my dear friend Beth came to visit from Boston. She has been training up there for the San Diego marathon as well. She was able to come to our practice this weekend on Kelly Drive. She and Dan, who are both doing the full marathon, did 12 miles. I was scheduled to do 6-- BUT I DID 8 INSTEAD! Go me. I was definitely feeling tired during the last mile, though. The muscles behind my knees started to hurt with about 1 1/4 miles to go, and by the last 3/4 mile, I slowed WAY down. But I kept on pace for about a 17 minute mile, which is decent.

It's been brought to my attention that I should offer a better explanation of where your donation will go, dear reader. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society calculates our minimum fund raising goal by determining the normal estimated travel costs and multiplying by 4. That way, 75% of your donation goes directly to patients and families in need, and 25% goes to the non-profit organization. If we are unable to raise the money through generous donors like you, we will have to pay the rest of the money from our own pocket. We have already made several donations to the cause throughout our training. We are NOT asking you to fund a vacation to San Diego! Besides, who do you know that plans to walk 13 or 26 miles on vacation???

Anybody have $4200 we can borrow?

I am a little stressed out, frankly, about the fundraising, since our goal is tomorrow. Something tells me it's not going to happen as I planned. Our real deadline for the organization is May 15th. Dan plans to approach local business owners this weekend to see if we can get any corporate sponsors. I have high hopes, since there are several places that we frequent, I am hoping they will be amenable to giving to a good cause!

I won't be able to practice with the team next weekend. I am heading up to CT for a bridal shower on Saturday, and a baby shower on Sunday! Life is getting crazy recently-- during the slow winter months, it was easy to make time for practice and fundraising. Now with a busier spring approaching, I feel like time is flying by! June 3rd will be here before we know it.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Dan's aunt and cousins this week. We found out on Saturday that Uncle Frank Carlino died last Thursday. We remember him fondly in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time for the family.

Thank you for checking in on our progress. If you haven't made your contribution to our fundraising yet, it's not too late! And perhaps you will be so inspired by our campaign that you will pass our website along to some friends or colleagues that would like to donate as well!

-Sara

Stupid Phil

2007-04-13T17:05:00.000-04:00

Punxatawny Phil said Spring was coming. Liar!

It's been so cold and dreary lately, I am beginning to wonder if we are just going to skip Spring altogether. Maybe we'll wake up on June 1st and it will be 90 degrees! In the meantime, they are calling for more cold temperatures this weekend and terrible rain on Sunday!

Fundraising is coming along slowly but surely. We have raised about $4200 at this point-- almost to the halfway mark. We are planning to go around to local businesses to try and get some sponsorship that way. We never thought we would get to this point, so I know we will make our goal of $9000.

Training is going well. We are going to need new sneakers soon! I guess we need to get them about 4 weeks (min) before the race, so they are broken in enough. We are really getting excited for the event!

Our team will be doing a scavenger hunt in San Diego the first night. Our coaches and event staff found a company that takes you on a 2- 2 1/2 hour hunt around the major sites in the city, and you end up at a restaurant for pizza and drinks! It will be a great team activity, and a wonderful way to see the city. My friend Beth (my old roommate from college) has been training with the TNT Boston team-- she'll be joining us in San Diego. It will be a fun weekend! We have to take 3 days off from work to go. Our flight on the way home is the red-eye, so arrive in Philly early Tuesday morning. We didn't think it would be smart to try and work after such a long night!

Thanks to everyone for your support. We continue to grow and change with this journey. It's been such a great experience, and we thank you for sharing it with us!

-Sara

Why We're Doing This

2007-03-30T17:04:00.000-04:00

Just when I needed a pick-me-up, we got this message from one of our team heroes, Frank. I posted earlier about him, but here's his story in his own words:

"I first became familiar with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society 3 years ago after I got a chilling phone call telling me that the little lump in my neck turned out to be “lymphoma”. I remember thinking to myself, “I know I’ve heard the word ‘lymphoma’ before but I don’t really know what that is…is it Cancer? Do I need to ask how long I’ve got left to live?” This particular doctor really felt he’d done his job & wanted to get off the phone so he told me I needed to go find an oncologist who specialized in something called Hodgkin’s Disease? I had a diagnosis I knew nothing of and knew even less about what to do first.
The feeling of sheer horror was compounded by the fact that I knew I’d have to go home that night and greet my wife with this news even though she was 38-weeks into the pregnancy of our first baby. I really needed answers and fortunately I found a group on the internet called the Leukemia & Lymphoma society, which provided me with a wealth of research and resources so I could quickly become an expert in my own treatment. I learned about everything from how to interview an oncologist to what fertility decisions cancer patients needed to make if they hoped to have additional children after treatment.
We had just enough time to find an oncologist when our situation went from bad to worse. The day before I was set to begin chemotherapy my wife had an emergency c-section and our son Liam was immediately medevac’d to a specialty hospital to have open-heart surgery. He just barely survived transport and though his heart-lung bypass operation went very well he unfortunately passed away after 9 weeks in intensive care.
The only way to survive this much tragedy at once is to have many, many, many very special people to depend on. My entire extended family dropped everything to come to our aid and we needed absolutely all the help we could get—at one point my wife, son and I were all three recovering from different surgeries in different hospitals around Philadelphia.
In addition to my family, I depended on the Society almost every day for everything from patient education to helping me find the best possible oncologist for my diagnosis, to emotional and even financial support. My family’s combined medical expenses sometimes ran as high as a quarter of a million dollars per week and while insurance covered most of that the countless co-pays and little expenses very nearly bankrupted us.
Thanks to volunteers like you, the Society was able to give us a grant to help us pay for many of the little medical bills that aren’t covered by insurance. The critical research funds that you’ve been raising help patients like me get the information that we need to enter treatment. The very treatments we undergo continue to evolve and improve as a result of your efforts.
When you are pushing yourselves in training and deciding whether this is worth it or not I hope you carry with you the confidence of knowing that your hard work is making an impact. I’m here today because of the efforts of Team in Training volunteers. I have a post-chemotherapy miracle in the birth of our second son Dermot which was made possible in no small part by the fertility advice from the Society that I mentioned earlier. He and I are both here today because of the volunteers of this great organization. We are about to have our second post-chemo miracle as we await the birth of our daughter, literally any day now.
Recently I celebrated my two and a half year anniversary in remission and I keep getting healthier every day. I thank you and your efforts for my life.
GO TEAM!
Frank Purcell
TNT Team Hero and Survivor"

Frank and his family welcomed Baby Girl Wren Harrington Purcell to the world on 3/27/07 @ 8:39am.

Here's the bottom line, friends. Dan and I have raised over $3,000 so far for the society. But we need $6,000 more to reach our goal. We need EVERYONE'S help to do this. If you've already donated, THANK YOU! Perhaps you will be moved to pass along our website to some generous people you know. If you haven't made your contribution yet, please do so soon-- our May 1st deadline will be here before we know it. We are doing this because want to help patients so that there are more success stories like Frank's. Help us help others! Donate today!

-Sara

Ho-Hum

2007-03-29T11:46:00.000-04:00

It's been an uneventful week. I haven't been posting because I've been feeling sort of "blah" lately. I can't really pinpoint it; just busy and stressed at work, tired, etc. Maybe I am just tired of the winter weather-- it's been nicer here, at least. A couple of days ago it was 77 degrees (don't tell Dan, but I turned the air on briefly when I got home. Even Ben the wonder puppy looked hot!)

I know I've mentioned my patient, Faith, and her boyfriend Chris in previous posts. They were in my office for a check up this week. They INSISTED on giving a donation to the Society, which I was REALLY touched by! (THANKS GUYS!) I promised Chris I would let him pick which mile I'm walking for him-- lucky number 7 maybe? He has a couple more lumbar punctures to go, but is feeling really well. He and Faith are looking forward to the baby's birth-- any day now! Since his hair is starting to come back in, we are all wondering who will have more hair; the baby or daddy!?!

I have been doing well with my diet... um, lifestyle change. I am faithfully eating breakfast and writing down what I eat (most of the time). My biggest problem is protein at breakfast and for snacks. Since I am allergic to nuts, I can't just have a handful of almonds or something for energy in the afternoon. Luckily, I can eat peanut butter, but it's kind of starting to get old. I am trying not to snack when I'm not hungry (REALLY hard this week).

Dan was in Tennessee this week for business. It was strange having the house to myself. Ben kept me company and slept on Dan's side of the bed! I am glad that Dan is home now, it seems like there are less creaks and weird house noises when he's home.

Thanks for checking in with us. Thanks to everyone for your support! If you haven't yet made your contribution, feel free to click on the link to the right of this blog! GO TEAM!

-Sara

Nutritionists are not scary...

2007-03-22T12:55:00.000-04:00

I went for my first nutrition visit yesterday, and it was pretty good. Basically, she told me that, as far as the weight loss is concerned, the marathon training is just HELPING. I shouldn't consider that to be the primary vehicle for losing weight. So we had to focus on what I was eating, when I was eating it, and WHY I was eating it.

My project, or "homework", for the next two weeks is to keep a food diary. I've done this before with WeightWatchers, but Amy the Nutritionist wants to know what time I am eating and how I feel when I am eating. I also promised to eat breakfast every day for the next 2 weeks. Alot of what she said makes sense-- why eat the majority of your food (ie. dinner) 1-2 hours before bed? I am going to work on fueling my body during the day when I am active, so that it can better use what I am eating instead of hiding it away as fat.

It all boils down to planning ahead! I need to think about things the night before, pack a lunch and snacks, and stick to it. Because I work such long hours, I should basically be eating a mini-lunch around 4:30 so I am not starving when I get home at 8pm. I was so psyched to hear that I get to have a half of a peanut butter sandwhich and a half of a banana on the way home today! Bring on the PB!!

We'll see how I do. It's frustrating, because of all the things I have tried to do in my life, losing weight seems to be the one thing I fail at time and time again. This is the one thing that I have struggled with for probably all of my 30 years on earth (well, maybe for 15 out of the 30 but still)! I am trying to stay positive, and the nutritionist was great about giving me a pep talk. Maybe this I just need this kind of guidance for it to work...

I have eaten more this morning and at lunch, though, than I feel like a person should if she wants to lose weight. But I guess there is a big difference between being full on cucumbers, red peppers, chicken breast, and orange slices instead of popcorn and diet coke!

But I would still give my right arm for an Oreo right now...

-Sara

First Day of Spring

2007-03-20T17:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Spring??

Well, last week on Wednesday, temperatures in Philadelphia hit 68 degrees. 48 hours later, we got 4 inches of sleet and 2 inches of snow... they're not kidding when they say March comes in like a lion!

Poor Kate and Paul drove through all that mess to come and visit us! A 4 hour trip on a good day took over 8 hours! We're lucky they didn't turn around after the first 2 hours! To top it all off, our "fun" weekend included activities like "shovel the driveway" and "scrape off the cars". Some friends WE are. We joked around that we were actually taping a new reality show "How much do you love your friends?" Paul and Kate won first prize-- lunch at the Cheesecake Factory!

The snow meant that missing practice on Sunday morning was no big deal. It was cancelled because the trails at Valley Forge weren't cleared off. We'll get back on track with practice this week.

I am beginning to panic a bit about fundraising, if I am being honest in this blog. The prospect of raising this much money, regardless of what an important cause it is for, is really daunting. We know we will be able to do it, but I sometimes wonder what will be harder-- training to walk 13 and 26 miles or raising $9000 to do so? Thank you to everyone that has contributed-- we so appreciate your support!

My brother and sister-in-law are in Australia for the month. I am jealous of their blog! It's much cooler than this one. I need to take blogging lessons from Brent! Though, by the time we get around to that, the marathon might be over, and I will have nothing to blog about anymore! I'll try to remember to take our camera with us to practice this weekend so we have something a little more exciting than written blogs to publish! Thanks for checking in on us!

-Sara

The Inevitable

2007-03-13T17:22:00.000-04:00

So I had the um... pleasure?... of serving on a Federal Jury last week and this week. It was enlightening to say the least. So after missing a ton of work for pneumonia, and only being back for 3 weeks or so, I was out again for a week of jury duty. Thank goodness it's over!

A couple of weeks ago, one of my patients (HI FAITH!) mentioned that her boyfriend was sick. When I asked a few more questions, she shared that he has been undergoing treatment recently for Lymphoma. I told her all about TNT, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and our marathon coming up in June. I promised to walk a mile or 7 for him. I had the pleasure of meeting Chris last week. He's finished his chemo, and is feeling well. It was great for me to meet him-- it was a great reminder that all this walking and fundraising is for a good cause!

The list of people I will be walking for just grows. I only hope that someday there will be no list at all! It means we've walked our way to a cure.

Training has been going well. I have decided to do the half marathon. At this point, I would rather finish the half well than spend the next 3 months worried that I won't finish the full. So I have made the inevitable decision. I feel good about it. The bottom line is, I am still raising just as much money for the Society, and 13.1 miles is still a really freakin' long way! This certainly isn't my last marathon with TNT, so I can decide for future races to tackle the full marathon (Disney '08, anyone?).

I am up to 6 miles as of Sunday. Dan did 12-- the guy is amazing! He was walking a 13 minute mile at one point during practice. No fair that he has such long legs! But I am walking away. I got a really big blister at Sunday's practice, and have been hobbling around like a little old lady for the past couple of days. Dr. Scholl's Blister Patches are my new best friends!

Thank you to everyone who has sent in donations recently. I PROMISE, I will get back on track with personal thank you notes. If you haven't received one yet, please know how much we appreciate your contribution, and keep an eye on your mailbox for a real thank you note!

Next weekend, we will miss our first practice of the season. Our dear friends Paul and Kate will be visiting from CT, so we will be having fun with them. (Who said getting up at the crack of dawn on a weekend to walk 12 miles in the cold isn't fun?) We plan to go out and do our long mileage on Sunday afternoon, after Kate and Paul head home. Kate's dad is a cancer survivor, and he's one of my heroes that I'll walk for!

Thanks for checking in on our progress. Every week, I promise myself that I will be better about posting... sigh... better luck this week, I guess!

GO TEAM!
-Sara

Hare

2007-03-04T21:40:00.000-05:00

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

Tortise

2007-02-26T08:26:00.000-05:00

Slow and steady wins the race.

I think that's going to be my new mantra. That old tortise had it right!

I had a great practice this weekend. On Sunday, I finished 5 miles! It doesn't sound like alot, but I was really proud of myself. The goal for the half-marathon team was 4 miles, and 8 miles for the full. I did much of my walk with assistant coach Linda again this week. When we got to the 2 mile marker, she asked if I was ready to turn around to go back-- I said let's go another 1/4 mile. And at 2 1/4 mi, I said let's go another 1/4 mile. At 2 1/2, I still thought I could go further. I decided to turn around because I didn't want to get all the way out to 3 miles and figure out that I was too pooped to get all the way back!

The other really great thing that happened at practice is that I FINALLY PASSED SOMEONE ON THE TRAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have NO idea how great it made me feel. It's really hard to see what seems like MILLIONS of people pass you all morning long, every single time. So I was really excited to be able to say "on your left"! It was a small victory, but you would have thought that I just won my own Oscar yesterday morning! (Linda and I had a quiet celebration afterwards; I wouldn't want to rub it in to the guy we passed.)

I have also scheduled an appointment with a nutritionist in March. I sort of thought that after a month of training, I would look a bit different, but I haven't lost a blessed pound! I think with all the miles, I must be overcompensating with calories or something. Could be my metabolism is just sound asleep. Those of you that know me well, know that I am practically allergic to exercise! So it's frustrating to get that sweaty so often, and not have anything to show for it. I want to make sure I get enough calories to support my body during our longer training days and on marathon day, but still get smaller overall.

Dan continues to lead the pack at practice. He is consistently walking 14-15 minute miles, and is usually the first one to finish. I am really proud of him! I can't say that I am really surprised, he has dabbled in all sorts of athletics while growing up-- Tae Kwan Do as a kid, Wrestling at East Catholic, & Crew Team at UCONN. I think there is some story of him and an unfortunate turn on a little league team that didn't end well, but overall, he's a pretty athletic person. (Okay, go ahead and ask "However did he end up with you, Sara?". It's called a glowing personality, people. Work with me here.)

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 journey! Your support means the world to us!

-Sara

So someone IS reading this, after all!!

2007-02-22T08:42:00.000-05:00

Just when I started to think that NOBODY read my blog but my lovely cousin Deb from Texas, I get a few emails saying, "How come you never post anymore??" I'm glad that you're enjoying our marathon training adventures!

You'll all be happy to read that I don't have pertussis. I am actually feeling better. I still have an occasional cough that I can't quite get rid of, but I have alot more energy! I am back at work and busy as ever.

We had a nice weekend in Cape Cod. We left on Tuesday night to try and beat the weather, and I am so glad we did. We would probably have had to wait until Thursday, because my mom told us it was brutal in Philadelphia! The Cape was mostly ice, so we stayed in all day on Weds. We were able to go out to a nice dinner that night for Valentine's Day. We went to the Captain Linnell House in Orleans, which is possibly our FAVORITE on the Cape. We must go there alot, because our waiter recognized us! This either makes us "loyal customers" or "pathetic creatures of habit", but we're not sure which.

We did our training while up at the Cape as well. My roommate from college, Beth, is training for San Diego as well. She lives outside of Boston, and came out to the Cape for an overnight. We were able to go out for an early morning (read CHILLY) walk on Saturday morning together. We also dragged our friend Sarah along, even though she's not in training!

Our fundraising is going well. It's interesting to get responses back-- SO many people have friends or family members affected by blood cancers! We hope through our efforts and those of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, that someday, NOBODY will have to say "Oh, my dad had lymphoma" or "my boyfriend in college had leukemia as a kid". Someday we'll find a cure so this is all a distant memory.

Our good friend Kate's dad, Rich Fee, was battling Lymphoma just before Paul and Kate got married a couple of years ago. An old co-worker's uncle died from non-Hodgkin's. When I was in college, I nannied for a family whose middle daughter had Leukemia. A friend of our family ran in the San Diego marathon twice (GO KERRY!) for a friend of hers. So we're not just walking for Grandma now, we're walking for all of these people! We'll GET GOING for them, too!

Thank you all again, dear friends, for your support. You can't imagine how it helps motivate us through this journey!

-Sara

Pertussis, anyone??

2007-02-13T08:39:00.000-05:00

Well, the saga of my recent illness continues... I ended up being out of work for about 10 days altogether! I tried to go back after a week, but I only made it through half the day. I went back to work last Thursday, and aside from a cough I can't seem to kick and being REALLY tired, I seemed to do okay. On Friday, we got some concerning news though; one of our receptionists had been sick during the same time as me, and she was diagnosed with Pertussis (Whooping Cough). It's one of the things that we are all immunized against as babies, but it can wear off over time. So anyway, it's really contagious, and since I was the only one that was THAT sick around the same time, I had to be tested as well. I can't go back until I can prove that I am pertussis free (just FYI, the chances of actually having it are really small-- I would not have gotten much better after the last course of antibiotics that I took). It's just been a pain in the neck; I've had to miss more work. I just can't seem to kick this cough, but for the most part, I feel better than I did.

Our training continues-- Dan is doing so well!!!! Last weekend, he did 8 miles with the group at Valley Forge Park. I did 4 miles, since none of us thought it would be a good idea to push too hard. I am still struggling with the "half vs. full" issue. I have talked to my coaches, to my family, to my friends, and it seems everyone is just as unsure as me. I get a lot of different opinions. I think, though, that I have come up with a plan. I am going to practice for the full marathon until our re-commitment date (when we commit to our fundraising goal of $9,000) in mid March. If, at that point, I think I will be unable to complete the full marathon, then I will opt to finish the half. For now I am just going to keep one foot in front of the other and work really hard!

I am getting back on track this week with training. We are going up to Cape Cod to visit my grandparents for my Grandpa's 79th Birthday this weekend, so our weekend training will be up there. Next week, we are back at Kelly Drive in Philadelphia.

Team In Training had our big kickoff celebration last week-- it was great! We met our team heroes, patients and their families who have been helped, or are continuing to receive support from the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. It sounds cheesy, but it was a really inspirational night for me. Hearing some of our heroes' stories made all of us laugh, cry, and remember why we want to do this. The bottom line is, we could train for any old marathon- but we're doing THIS marathon to raise money for a very important organization.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our fundraising efforts thus far! If you haven't gotten one already, we will be sending out individual thank you notes. We really appreciate your support, and want to make sure you know that your contributions will make a big difference! We still have a long way to go to reach our goal, but we're confident that we'll make it! Thank you all so much!

-Sara

Just a guy named "Frank" and a girl named "Typhoid Mary"

2007-02-02T14:35:00.000-05:00

"You're a nurse? Awesome! I LOVE NURSES!"

That was one of the first things that an average guy named Frank said to me. After only a couple of hours, though, I learned that he wasn't just an average guy, he was my hero. Frank is one of our Team In Training heroes, and came to our practice at Valley Forge last weekend. Frank is about our age, just an ordinary guy who went to his doctor for a checkup a few years ago. When he pointed out a lump, he expected his physician to just reassure him. He ended up with a diagnosis of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Frank and his wife walked in the Anchorage Half Marathon last June. The whole team was really honored that Frank came to our practice; it helped to remind us why we were out on another COLD weekend morning!

I started out slower than the rest of the group-- again! I was so frustrated! It seems like the first 2 miles is hardest for me. Once I get there, I have discovered that I pretty much feel like I could walk for 4 more days. But so much of my journey so far has been in my head. My self doubt is a really hard thing to overcome! I really struggle in deciding between the half and full marathon distances. I walked a good bit of the way with my fundraising mentor, Cheryl, who told me about her experiences in training for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon last month. (It is now my life's goal to walk the Disney Marathon too, but one race at a time...) I was able to complete 4 of the 5 miles.

On the way back, our hero Frank walked with us. It was so great to get to talk to him, and learn a little bit more about him and his family, and their battle with Lymphoma. Frank said that he understood how I felt about the half vs. full issue. But he pointed out that the half is JUST as great as the full. It's a full 13.1 miles, and that's a long freakin' way! Frank talked about all the help that he got from the Society when he was too sick to work. And that needs to be my goal-- not 13 miles or 26 miles or 500 miles. My goal is to raise money to help other ordinary guys like Frank. So that someday, guys like Frank won't have to know what it is to fight for their lives against an enemy they can't even see. So I'll put one foot right in front of the other one, and no matter HOW long it takes me, half or full, I'll cross the finish line for all the average guys!

Sadly, my training has not been going very well this week. I unfortunately came down with a cold last weekend. I was feeling semi-crummy on Friday, but stuck it out for practice on Saturday. My theory was, if I wasn't willing to cancel my lunch plans with my friend Nicole, that I wasn't willing to stay home from practice. But by Saturday night, it was clear that I was really sick. On Monday morning, I called out sick from work, and went to the doctor. He gave me some antibiotics, and I called the office to cancel all my patients for Tuesday. By Weds., my fever was about 103.5 and I was completely miserable. I told Dan that if I started seeing pink orangutans swinging from the stairs that he needed to take me to the hospital! Luckily, we were the only primates in the house for the rest of the week. I went back to the doctor on Weds., I have new antibiotics and a fancy inhaler, and a diagnosis of probably pneumonia. My friend Heidi has nicknamed me "Typhoid Mary" this week. So needless to say, the only walking I have been doing is the trail between the bed and the couch!

Well, dear friends, sorry it's been so long since there's been an update. The fundraising letters should be all finished by Saturday- so check your mailboxes! I have to look at the practice schedule to update our total mileage. I look forward to updating the fundraising numbers as well! Thanks everyone for all your support!

-Sara

St. Joan of "Arch"

2007-01-26T16:47:00.000-05:00

Blisters are a real pain in the... feet. Both Dan and I were suffering earlier this week- after only 4 days of training! I had expected to have some small problems, but not to the degree that we did!

So on the recommendation of our coach, Jerry-- have we mentioned how GREAT this guy is?, we went over to The Running Place in Newtown Square (http://www.therunningplace.com/). I was a bit nervous, because well, I'm not a "runner". I am completely intimidated by "runners", and for some bizarre and admittedly unfair reason always worry that they will look down on me because I am a "walker". (Ridiculous, I know, but still...)

Well, we met probably the coolest lady EVER at the store. Joan, whom I have dubbed "St. Joan of Arch- the patron saint of runners", couldn't have been more helpful! First she had us take off our current shoes. She looked at them (despite the horrid odor coming from Dan's- sorry honey, but they reeked!), and had us walk across the room to observe our gait. And, poof! As if by magic, St. Joan found the most comfortable shoes I have ever put on my little feet (which, incidentally, are two perfectly matched size 6's-- I knew I was perfect SOMEWHERE on my body)! Joan also outfitted us with socks, which makes a huge difference in the blister issue. We also picked up some snazzy new water bottle holders for our training and race. I'll bet you're not surprised, dear friends, to hear that I picked the pink one.

My friend Casey was right, I should have brought my camera to document our shoe shopping! Sorry! Had I known that the staff at The Running Place was so great, I would definitely have done it! Thank God for St. Joan of "Arch"! I'm a reformed woman. I'll never buy sneakers from the mall again.

I guess Joan has been a runner forever- and she had some really great words of wisdom that I will truly recite over and over through race day. "If the whole race felt like the first mile, do you think I, or any one else, would actually do the other 25 miles?" Brilliant! So I am not alone in hating the first mile.

Now if I could just grow some longer legs...

-Sara

When will we have time?

2007-01-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

With TEAM IN TRAINING, we will train once each weekend with the rest of the team at either Valley Forge Park or Kelly Drive. But in order to prepare for the marathon, we will have to train at home as well. We were given a schedule by our coach, and today is our first day to train. I am beginning to get a little worried about how we will juggle our "real lives" and training!

Because it is the middle of winter, we wake up for work while it is still dark outside. And since I started working 10 hour days, I now get home at around 7:30pm (when it's dark outside). So between the lack of daylight hours and the snowy weather, we'll have a hard time walking outside for the next month or so. Dan and I decided to go to the gym for some of the training, and on my day off, I will train alone outside during the day.

But today is a perfect example-- we need to do 4 miles. So, if we are at a 15-16 minute mile, that's a bit over an hour. The gym doesn't open until 5am, and in order to get ready for work, I need to be in the shower at 6am. So we'll go to the gym after I get home tonight, which means we won't eat dinner until around 9pm. It's stuff like this that makes me wish I lived closer to the hospital, so I would have more time!

I am sure that as time goes on, we'll figure out a schedule that works for us. And the bottom line is, we are doing this for a reason. So we'll sacrifice now and make an impact on other people's lives, as well as our own. Every time I question whether or not I can do this, I try to think about the families and patients that are going through so much more. And as much as I wish for time to get "things" done, I know how blessed I am not to have to simply wish for more time being healthy, or more time in remission, or more time without chemo, or just more time to live! I'll try to remember the reason and I know that will be great motivation!

On another note, you'll see that there are now 2 sites for online donation. Because of the way that the financial end will work, Dan and I are considered 2 separate fundraising entities. Our end goal of $9000 is the same, but for the organization's purposes, we will be raising $4,500 each. When you make your donation, feel free to just pick one or the other. There will be a running tally at each site, so you can see which one of us needs to "catch up" to the other.

Also, I have included a "STATS" area so you can quickly see our fundraising and mileage building up. We are on track to walk a total of 36 miles this week (18 miles each)!

We are psyched for our next team practice on Saturday at Valley Forge Park! I'll try to remember our camera so that we can post some pictures of us in action. It looks like it will be just as cold, if not colder, than last week. I can't wait for spring-- warmer weather AND daylight savings!

-Sara

Training Day 1

2007-01-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

We have officially lost our minds!
We woke up this morning at 6:30am to make it to our first practice, held at Kelly Drive in Philadelphia. Dan and I both bundled up (I even went to Target last night to buy thermal underwear) because it was a chilly 28 degrees! The first thing that we discovered is that NOBODY is on the Schukill Expressway that early on a Sunday morning. If the commute could always be that easy, I could DRIVE to work instead of taking the train.
When we got there, we met Jerry, our head coach for the marathon. He and his wife, Robin have been doing TEAM IN TRAINING since the late '90s, I think, and were both REALLY enthusiastic. We learned some stretching exercises and set off on our 4 mile walk for the day. I never knew that there was a "proper" way to walk. It will take some getting used to, but the more we practice our form, the more natural it will become.
After about 1/2 mile, I sort of fell behind the rest of the pack. I wasn't really tired exactly, but my legs were kind of sore. Of course, I immediately began to regret our decision to do this. If I can't do 1/2 mile and keep up with the group, how am I possibly going to do 26.2 miles on Marathon Day??? Dan was great, he walked with me. Eventually, one of the assistant coaches, Linda, came and walked with us. I told Dan to go ahead, and Linda stayed with me.
I was SO embarrassed! But Linda was a great motivator, and we completed 3 miles today! The second half seemed to be a bit easier (and faster), so maybe it just took me a while to GET GOING (ha!). Head coach Jerry told me that he thought I did fine, that with the cold weather and since it was the first time out it could affect how far I went. So at this point, I feel pretty good. I still intend to do the full marathon, but I know the option to drop back to the half (13.1 miles) is still available.
We are going to begin our fundraising campaign soon. Our goal is $9,000 (this is a little scarier than the 26.2 mile Marathon sometimes)! We hope to set up links to our online fundraising page, the TEAM IN TRAINING page, and other fun stuff that we come across in this journey.
Thanks so much for your support! I hope you'll visit this blog often to check in on our progress!
-Sara