Number 4!

Last weekend my family drove with me all the way to O-Hi-O to support me in running my 4th marathon.  Can I just say, my family is amazing and wonderful. (oh, yes I can!)

I mean, just look at these signs!!!  Sadie went to work making sure I was well supported and that everyone had a sign to hold for me!  I love the one she is holding.

 

Chris' dad was up with me at 4:30 am to take me to the start line.  That's right, it wasn't Chris who was awake, but his dad!  He was so sweet to follow me on his scooter as much as he could.  The race was actually on the Air Force Base so there were sections with no spectators.  He surprised me the first time I saw him as I wasn't expecting to see anyone, but it was so nice to have him cheering me on.

At miles 9-11 families could cheer us on because we went off base for a few miles.  It was really great to see them! Derek came over so I could unload some of my gels. Sadie, so thoughtful, was giving me a gel to keep me going!

While they were waiting for me...for about 2 hours...the fam went and looked around at the air force museum.  

I think Derek was a little bit scared in his parachute.

Here I am so close to the finish line.  I finished with a new personal best...in 4:57 which for me, was well received!  I am happy with that time and am looking forward to breaking that record!

Here I am with my bling.  The medal was nice and heavy.  They figured we still had the strength to wear that thing around our necks.

A HUGE kiss and hug to my mother-in-law who kept us fed very well all weekend!  She is an amazing cook and I admit I wasn't much help after the race on Saturday!  Any suggestions where to run my next marathon?  Anyone want to run with me???

OBX Marathon

This past November I ran my 3rd marathon. It was a great experience...challenging, but good. The weekend was filled with family activities and we had great friends come with us for the trip. There's something about running a marathon that is very satisfying. There is so much preparation leading up to the race and you never know how your race will go. Then when I was running, I found myself asking "Why am I doing this?". But crossing that finish line is a huge feeling of accomplishment it makes me forget all the pain and struggle I may have had getting to that point.

Here is Derek waiting to see me on the course, or maybe I had just run past and he was thinking, "Mom, what are you doing?"

We spent a lot of time at the beach. The kids loved our night walk, looking at the stars.




Our good friends, Patti and Johnny Lesley came with us. We enjoyed a morning at the Wright Brothers Memorial.



The kids could have spent all day at the sand dunes.




Some more good friends from Virginia Beach came to see us after the marathon. We were able to take a drive out on the beach with the Lesley's jeep. We drove out to a remote town which is only accessible by driving on the beach. All the "roads" in the town were sand and Chris was able to see some wild ponies.

  

Thank you to our friends for making this a fantastic weekend for all of us!

26.2

Friends are amazing. I don't have any pictures of the actual party, but here are the candles that went on the cake...
 
and here is what was inside my card filled with all kinds of encouraging words:
 
Looks good hanging out on the back of the van!
 
Thank you Richard and friends for listening to my story and celebrating this journey with me!

Visit with Grandma and Ursula

After the marathon I had the great opportunity to visit Grandma Hari and Ursula in Portland! They were 2 of the main reasons for running this marathon. Thank you Sherilyn for a great trip. We had a fabulous day eating breakfast at Bob's Red Mill, then touring the mill itself. We shopped at the mill and then went to Crate & Barrel to browse around. We had lunch at PF Chang's where we ate only appetizers! It was happy hour and we really only wanted the lettuce wraps (delicous) but ended up with a sampling of appetizers. We went home with a piece of the Great Wall of Chocolate! After lunch we went to see Grandma's new house (which is beautiful) and did some Target shopping. Then we went home to eat cake and my favorite ice cream of all times, Tillamook's mint chocolate chip!

My visit was way too short and I am going to miss Grandma's house on the river. Thank you for letting me visit Grandma and I can't wait to see all of you again!

Marathon is completed!

To read and see more about my marathon, click here. It was an amazing journey!

Marathon day!

Here we are, morning of the big event. This is Allison, me and Cynthia all ready to go. We were bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4:45am in order to be ready for pictures at 5:15.

Here are my legs and shoes...Go Legs Go! You can see my timing chip on the right and my emergency tag on the left. I was hoping that information would not be needed.



The team...some are running the half marathon and some are running the full marathon.


That morning I met up with my friend Julia and a couple of her running buddies.

Another TNT member Alli also met up with us. With 20,000+ people all in Union Square it was quite the party at 6:30am. It took us 9 minutes to get to the start line after the gun went off. Then we were running through downtown! It was nice to see women from all walks of life on the course. There were even wheel chair participants!

Along the course this was one of the loveliest downhills. It was nice and long...just like the hill we had just climbed. The weather was perfect, breezy and cool. All along the course there were coaches and staff members of Team In Training cheering us on. I had put my name on my shirt so that people could call out my name and cheer me on. I loved that!



There were many signs such as this encouraging us to get to the end. I also had a name of someone for each mile I was running, i.e. Ursula was mile 5, Grandma mile 6, Uncle Fay mile 7, etc.


The race was so great for me until about mile 16. Up until then I was feeling great, I had a great 1/2 marathon time and felt like I could still make my goal of 5 hours. It was then I started to notice that my right knee was giving me problems. I stopped to walk for a minute and it started throbbing so much that I had to take my weight off of it. It felt better to run than to walk. That can't be a good sign! I continued running up this hill that went on for 3 miles! When I got to the top I stopped for a minute and almost started crying as I didn't think I'd be able to finish. This was at mile 19 and I still had 7 more miles to go! That's when Rhonda, a coach from Portland, caught up to me and asked me how I was doing. I told her about my knee and she sprayed some Biofreeze onto my leg. This helped to numb it enough so that I felt like I could finish the race. She also gave me a gel form to put on whenever I felt like I needed to. That was a lifesaver. Without that I don't think I would have made it. Note to self: never run a marathon again without biofreeze with me. After I left Rhonda we ran around this rediculously big lake, ate chocolate and came to the top of the 3 mile downhill to the finish. This is where I saw my coach Bill who ran with me for a little while and walked with me for a little while and Kat, another team mate caught up to me. From then on Kat and I ran together in to the finish (I think she helped me more than I helped her). It was wonderful to have someone by my side, pushing me forward and helping me to not think about the pain! We held hands and cried across the finish and felt so empowered by what we had just accomplished! Thank you Kat for getting me there!

The finish line with the firemen in tuxedos handing out our necklaces.


Me and Kat after we finished. We were both very emotional when we saw the balloons and the finish line. What a great feeling that was to cross!


My overall time was 2:25...for the first half! and 5:35 for the whole marathon. Now I have a time to beat and will be choosing a flatter course for my next marathon.

My Tiffany & Co. necklace. It says "Run Like a Girl". I have loved this journey and will definitely be running another marathon in the future.



Love you Ursula, Grandma and Uncle Fay. Thank you for making this such an important journey, for your love and support.

Thank you to all those who donated money, time, support, and encouragement. I have appreciated it all and hope that I can give back as much as I have been given.

Pasta Party

Our pasta party was on Saturday night. For whatever reason, I wasn't expecting it to be so emotional. Right when we walked through the door there were coaches and staff lining the whole entry down into the conference center cheering and making all kinds of noise. I was so teary eyed just thinking about the journey it took to get there and then seeing everyone cheer for us it was kind of overwhelming.



The food was delicious and we were given goodie bags for the next day. We had some wonderful speakers who were funny, motivational and grateful that we were all there. It really put things into perspective and I was happy to be a part of it.

This is me and Amanda and then a picture of the team.


Here is my purpose and my reasons:

Uncle Fay and Linda

Saturday was a fabulous day for me. Cynthia and I rented a car and we were off on a journey to Santa Rosa to visit my great uncle Fay and his wife Linda. We managed to get through the downtown traffic and across this beautiful bridge:


and ended up here. 19 beautiful acres of hillside property that Uncle Fay owns. We arrived to a big hug and warm greetings from both Uncle Fay and Linda. Uncle Fay drove us to the top of his property in his truck in 4WD low. It was a fun ride up to the top where we saw beautiful wild turkeys and bay trees. We had a nice walk and Uncle Fay told me stories of my grandpa and family.



After our trip up the hill we had a wonderful lunch consisting of cantaloup melon and prosciutto along with bread and cheese (not just any cheese mind you, but bree and havarti which are 2 of my favorites). This meal was a favorite of Frank Senatra's and it might become one of my favorites too!

This is Uncle Fay and Linda in front of their home. The house was built in 1925 by an Italian family who used to farm the hillside. The house has tons of charm along with the barns on his property.

We went for a nice drive through the valley and saw grape leaves turning a beautiful red and gold color. When we stopped at the market we saw this sculpture on the back of the jeep. We just had to take a picture because it was so...unique?


Thank you Uncle Fay and Linda for such an enjoyable day! We loved visiting with you and I hope I can return again soon. Love you!