Happy Thanksgiving everyone! My day started early this morning as I was up helping my mom to prepare the big bird. Since she had foot surgery about a month ago, I volunteered to assist the food preparation for the day. Little did I know what I was in for! It's not so easy to whip up my mother's homemade stuffing and get the turkey all ready to go...but several hours later I feel much more domestically experienced. After we had most of the food ready and had a break in the preparation phase then I headed out for a quick run. During this 'pre-training' month before my strict running schedule begins I've been running a couple times a week, usually around 4 or 4.5 miles. I'm a pretty slow runner (not my forte) so my miles have averaged around 10:00 or 10:15. Today I decided on a shorter run - 3.48 miles to be exact, but I think that the thought of our big turkey dinner kicked up my pace a bit because my splits were about 9:30 : ) Last year I ended up with a finishing time of 5:56.30 for the marathon - far slower than I had been aiming for after I had battled stomach issues for several miles. This year I'm just hoping to improve on that, and maybe aiming towards a 10:00 average split. Of course, we'll see how the training goes once that begins in earnest!
I'm also hoping to finish up my fundraising letters this weekend - yes, I've been procrastinating. I sat down to draft my letter a few days ago and was trying to figure out how to fit last year's experience, a background on Dana Farber, why I'm running, and a whole lot of other things into a one-page letter with font big enough to read. Now that's a challenge! But I guess that's also why I'm keeping a blog. I can tackle one topic per blog post and hopefully finish before Marathon day!
So the big question - and the one I usually get asked most often. Why would you choose to run 26.2 miles?? My answer usually begins with me explaining that I'm not much of a runner. I know, I'm running a marathon - but running has never been my thing. Usually when we'd be having conditioning sprints/runs on the turf at Providence I'd be the one that everyone loved having in their line. Not because I was fast - actually just the opposite, I'd be slower than most other teammates and so whoever else was in my line got more rest waiting for me to finish : ) So why a marathon? I guess it's because I'm not a good runner. Since I struggle (an understatement) through my training both physically and mentally, I feel as if I can gain some sort of understanding in a very very small way of the struggle that people experience in the fight against cancer. It's a humbling experience to attempt something so out of my own comfort zone. In addition, I had two aunts who were treated at Dana Farber - both were battling breast cancer. One of them passed away a few years ago, leaving behind a son who I'm enjoying getting to watch grow up living nearby with my aunt and uncle's family. The second aunt was treated successfully and I'm so excited to say is now cancer-free. These are just two of the many other family members, friends, and friends of friends who inspire me to put on my running shoes and train. It's pretty amazing that by taking on a relatively low-risk athletic feat such as running a marathon, I can raise a large amount of awareness and support for the cancer cause. If all I have to do is sacrifice some free time each week to run in order to make that happen - it's an easy choice. So I'm not just running for my two aunts, I'm also running for each of those people who donated in honor of someone. I'm running for a cure to a disease that affects 1 out of every 3 people. And that marathon? A piece of cake compared to the fight of a cancer patient and their family. Anyway, that's my lecture for today - Happy Thanksgiving to all!
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