Last year's finish line, this year's starting line

It's official - I procrastinated / had a short term memory loss about this blog so here I am trying to make up for lost time.  Before I start into this year, a quick overview of last year's marathon and how my fundraising finished up.  To say that it is difficult to put the whole race-day experience into words is an understatement, but I'll do my best to give a little inside insight.  The night before I slept fairly well considering my combination of nerves and excitement, but the alarm rang early and I was up and getting dressed at 4:30am.  Anyone who knows me knows that at 4:30am I am usually not a happy person, but this morning I couldn't wait to get going.  Once I was dressed and had my bright green bag packed, for the second year in a row I took out a black sharpie and participated in my tradition of 'arm motivation'.  By arm motivation, I mean writing on my forearm each mile that I was expecting to see my parents or other relatives or friends.  While the Boston Marathon is run with over 25,000 people and hundreds of thousands of spectators, one of my favorite parts of the race is checking to see which upcoming mile I can expect to see a familiar face and give out a nice, sweaty hug.  I arrived at the DFMC meeting place early, thanks to my spectacular driver Kelli  : )  and made the walk over to the dozens of yellow school buses with some DFMC teammates.  This year, I didn't have as good luck as the year prior finding a short line, and so by the time I got on a bus and arrived at the DFMC refuge near the starting line it was a bit later than I had hoped to arrive.  I still managed to have enough time to settle in, have some food, and send my green bag with my extra clothes onto the bus to wait for me at the finish line.

I chatted with a couple DFMC teammate friends, and then headed out to the starting line - race time was finally here!  As I crossed the starting line, I had the familiar rush of adrenaline and excitement as I had the year prior.  If no one has told you about the beginning of the Boston Marathon - let me inform you.  I've never been to the running of the bulls in Spain, but I would imagine the feeling is similar.  Although I wasn't a speed demon by any means, I started out running a ten-minute/mile pace with my fellow teammates - a speed at which I felt would be respectable.  But the first few miles of the marathon, and in particular the first mile, is always overwhelming.  Picture yourself standing still amongst thousands of people sprinting past you in the street; that's about how I felt.  Except for the fact that I was moving, and moving at a pace that was slightly faster than I expected to be able to maintain for the duration of the race, and these people were still sprinting by at light-speed.  I kept looking over my shoulder to find the end of the line of people, expecting to be trotting along by myself sooner or later.  The end never came, just more sprinting people.  Luckily I had the pleasure to be running with three other lovely DFMC ladies, each of which I had gotten to know during group training runs and been inspired by their stories.  One was a fellow Friar and rugby player, running her first ever marathon raising money in honor of relatives. Another, a special education teacher my age who had lost her mother in December during the training to cancer, yet carried on with her training and fundraising with unthinkable grace.  And the fourth member of our 'turtle' group, a lady who was celebrating her 7th year of being cancer free following a battle with breast cancer.  I had the pleasure to be inspired and motivated by each of these 3 ladies, and am proud to have shared the experience of training and racing with them.

Anyway, back to the race - my parents for the second year in a row made meticulous plans of how to see me at several different points during the marathon.  We had driven the marathon course prior to the race, and agreed on the points where I would look for them - they had so many pages of google maps and highlighted routes printed out, I'm not sure how they kept track.  I saw them half a mile into the race and handed off my camera that I had carried around that morning.  My mother brought her step stool, an enormous flag, pom poms, and multiple signs which she rotated for each stop.  They were pretty easy to pick out in the crowd  : )  As our 'turtle' group passed the miles we each saw family and friends who cheered our group on.  The miles seem to blur together now, but the faces from the crowd cheering us on because of our Dana Farber singlets is something I won't forget.  It was meaningful because I knew that these people had in some way been touched by cancer, and for that moment we shared a bond.  It was the reason I was running in the first place - because cancer had touched my family, and I wanted to do something to make a difference.  I ran for my aunts, I ran for my grandfathers, I ran for friends of friends, and I ran for a cure.  I teared up at points during the marathon thinking about these people and what it meant to me to be able to run for them.  I still get chills just thinking about it.  I had numerous friends who stood on the sidelines long after the Kenyans had sprinted by to see my limp by, and to them I am so thankful.  Looking forward to seeing my family and friends kept me going through some of the tough miles - who am I kidding, all of the miles were tough!  Mile 25 passed by, and the Dana Farber cheering group was on the sidelines with some of the Jimmy Fund patients in the group.  Those smiling faces carried me along that last mile, as I slowly made my way with a few friends and my uncle who had joined me for encouragement the last several miles.  As I crossed the Finish Line, my legs were burning and my whole body was in pain and exhausted.  I had finished.  I wasn't fast...I wasn't even semi-fast.  But I had finished the marathon 16 minutes faster than the year before, I hadn't died (yet), and I had a smile on my face.  It doesn't get much better than that.

My fundraising total for last year was $4,350, bringing my two year total to $9,125 - a figure that I couldn't have imagined I would be able to raise.  A huge thank you goes out to all my supporters - without you, I couldn't have done it.  Together we are taking steps forward in the cancer fight.

All of which brings me to this year!  I am BACK for my third year running with Dana Farber, and am more excited than ever to be in the midst of training and fundraising.  This year I stepped up my training and am following the intermediate plan, which means I'll be running 16 miles tomorrow.  More updates to come!

DFMC 2011 Video

Less than a month to go!

The last three weeks of training I've been pushing the mileage and with just under a month remaining until race day I have a very challenging 19-miler as well as an 18-miler under my belt, and am looking forward to next week's 20+ mile run!  This will be my longest training run, and then the tapering begins!!  Can you tell I'm excited?  Anyway, over the past couple weeks I've been able to attend several DFMC group runs, which has certainly made the longer training runs more bearable.  My moving pace has been pretty consistently below 11 minutes for all the longer runs, so I feel well-prepared thus far but don't want to get too far ahead of myself just yet.  In terms of fundraising, I'm just over the $3,000 mark and am hoping to have a strong push before Marathon day!  I spent most of the day today putting together a video that outlines what the DFMC team is all about, so be sure to head over to my facebook page and check that out.  Pretty cool stuff!  I'm going to attempt to post that here as well, but since I'm not terribly blog-savvy then I won't make any promises.

13.1? Nah, let's make it even and do 13.5

Today marked my first participation in a Dana Farber Group Run - and it was awesome!  This year I've attempted to schedule my long runs on Thursday or Friday due to my hockey schedule, but I decided to make an exception this week since I had a rare weekend off from hockey and the DFMC run was schedule on Sunday (today).  My longest run to date had been a 10-miler on a treadmill, so I was a bit wary about increasing the mileage to quickly as this week my long run was scheduled to be 12-14 miles.  I also didn't want to go to a group run and be the last one to finish...but, I when my alarm rang at 7am I dragged myself out of bed and headed over to Watertown to meet the team.  I found an old hockey friend of mine, Christine, in the group of people inside the gym and we waited together to hear the announcements and an outline of the run.  It turned out that there was a group of women along with Christine and myself who were all running a similar pace.

We set off in the freezing, windy weather together and I got to chat with a couple different women who I hadn't met before.  The talking made the time pass faster, although the biting cold wasn't so pleasant.  Every 3 miles, the DFMC team had a water stop set up with Gatorade, water, fig newtons, M&M's and chocolate covered raisins.  Now, let me backtrack for a second.  During last years marathon I got sick halfway through and had to familiarize myself with nearly every porta potty between Mile 13 and Mile 22.  Prior to that, I had run two half marathons - one of which had a run to the bathroom immediately after I had finished.  Since those experiences I've been particularly careful what I eat before and during long runs in hopes of finding a successful combination before this years marathon.  Last night, I had a plate of Vegetable Lo Mein and two cookies (hardly a good night-before-a-long-run dinner) and this morning I had a large bowl of Kix cereal and milk.  In other words, I wasn't optimistic about my chances of making it through the long run without having to run to a bathroom.  Then, at the first water station and each successive one I decided it'd be a good plan to have a handful of chocolate covered raisins or M&M's (I alternated) along with my standard cup of Gatorade.  If I was gonna have to sit on the toilet for a half an hour after the run, might as well make it worth it right?

Then...surprise of all surprises, the longer I ran the better I felt.  My stomach was fine, my legs were relatively loose and I was cruising along nicely.  Who knew that eating chocolate would solve my stomach issues??  Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised  : )  I ended up running 13.5 miles instead of the 12 I had originally planned on, and got to meet many new DFMC teammates along the way.  It was a great experience that I hope to participate in again very soon.

A little bit of adventure, a lot of inspiration

This week has been a mixture of adventure on my runs and some inspiration sent my way in the mail.  First, the adventure.  Thursday I was getting treadmill-crazy and decided that I was going to run outside in the fresh air no matter what.  I headed out for an 8-9 mile run and decided to trek along memorial drive in Cambridge.  I have to say, the view of Boston from that side of the river is arguably my favorite.  I did find, however, that the sidewalks were much worse than I had anticipated.  In other words, it was 100% ice and 0% pavement or anything other than ice.  Despite the fact that I felt like I was prancing and dancing on the ice rather than running, I carried on until I was 4.5 miles out and then turned to return home.  I was feeling confident, so I decided to try a slightly different route home that would hopefully put me on some pavement rather than the ice route back.  I soon found myself somewhere in Cambridge other than where I had thought I would end up.  I knew generally where I was, but couldn't figure out how to get back to the bridge over to Somerville.  Soon enough I was at mile 7.5 and still running circles around Cambridge, so I quickly decided that although I could likely find my way home it would probably add another 3 or 4 miles to my run that I hadn't anticipated.  At this point I was very thankful that I always run with my license, phone, and some money in my pocket in case of emergencies.  I found my way to the nearby T stop and was able to buy a ticket and catch the next train just as it was pulling up.  After changing lines, I was on the Orange Line heading home and breathing a sigh of relief.  My relief was short-lived, as at the next stop the doors to our car opened for .2 seconds and then shut as the train operator announced that the cars were filled to capacity and couldn't take anymore passengers.  The next stop came, and this time the doors to all the other cars opened normally - except my car.  The doors stayed shut.  Soon enough there were other passengers knocking and banging on the windows to the bystanders outside yelling 'Let me out!!'.  I'm sure we looked like idiots.  Then the T took off to the next stop - with several displeased passengers still stuck in my car.  At the next stop someone found the emergency intercom and began pressing it, with no response.  The man shouted into the intercom 'Car 1233 the doors are not opening!  Do you acknowledge?!'  I truly felt like I was in a movie.  But at the next stop, the doors slid open normally as if nothing had happened.  It was a good thing too, as it was North Station and there were several Bruins fans who were headed to the game.  The rest of my T ride was uneventful, and I made it home safe and sound!

My inspiration came from a note that I received in the mail today accompanying a DFMC donation.  The note came from a lady who lives down the street from my parents, and who had supported my run last year.  She wrote, "Cherie, Great picture!  Good luck this year in the marathon, it sure is a great cause.  Dana Farber research saved my life 6 years ago."  That small note manages to reach to the heart of why I'm running.  To say it made my day would be an understatement.  I could go on, but I won't - the note says it all.

Woodward - for the long run

I must say, since my training last April I think I forgot what it was like to feel the pains in my knees and feet after a semi-long run.  Now I remember.  The last two weeks have been forgettable in terms of training...I was sick and then last week was my 'getting back on track' week.  Originally I had intended to run yesterday outside, but in my haste to take advantage of the one day this week that didn't have snow in the forecast and get some errands done it was suddenly 8:30pm and I hadn't run yet.  Oops.  So today I headed to the gym with some friends for a semi-long run...unfortunately on a treadmill since we are in the midst of yet another snow storm here in Boston!  Melissa cleverly pointed out to me that the Woodward treadmill was different than the other ones, and was supposed to be easier on the knees.  It also had the slogan 'For the long run' on it, so clearly it was for me.  I have to say that it did feel different than the other treadmills I had been running on - bouncier, for lack of a better term.  I ran alongside Thatcher, another friend of mine, for 1.34 miles before Melissa notified us that the basketball court was now unoccupied.  For the next hour or so the four of us played knockout, 2 v 2, and 'horsies' - kind of like horse, just with two more letters since we weren't very good.  But don't be fooled!  Our lack of skill didn't translate into a lack of competitiveness - put a few hockey players together and...well...it's not your average pick up game.  We had a lot of fun, but after an hour of chasing the basketball around the idea of hopping back on the treadmill for another 4.7 miles wasn't very appealing.  I knew I had to push through though, so I somehow made it through for a total of 6 miles on the treadmill plus an hour of basketball.  Not a bad day at the gym!  But after two weeks of light training, pushing my mileage back up has certainly been a bit of a struggle and my feet and knees are feeling it.  That said, I'm happy to be getting back on track!

On the fundraising front, I've raised just over $2,400 already!  Thank you to all who have donated!  And to those who haven't, check out my fundraising page and please consider making a donation  : )

Everybody can do something

After over a week of battling a thick cough and fever I'm back in the training saddle!  Last week I missed nearly the entire week's worth of training because I was lying in bed sick - so my long run was shortened to a paltry 4 miles.  That said, although my pace is still a bit higher than I'd like I'm feeling more energized by the day!  I decided for one of my no-impact cardio workouts to test out the gym's pool - man, I forgot how tiring swimming can be!  After twenty minutes of lap swimming I was very tired and headed for the showers.  Since it appears as if Boston has been a snow magnet for storms lately, I've been relegated to training on the treadmill for the past two weeks or so since the sidewalks are just barely cleared.  And although the treadmill is something I dread - it's been good for me to push through.  This week I'm looking to have a long run of 7 to 8 miles, although we'll have to see how my legs respond after last week's lack of training.

Today on the runDFMC community board one of my teammates had posted a link to a website for a new movie - www.myrunmovie.com.  If you have an extra minute or so to check out the preview for the movie then I highly recommend it.  The summary: 75 marathons in 75 days.  75!!!  This man had lost his wife to breast cancer, and was a single parent.  Oh, and he wasn't a runner.  Anyway, during one of his interview he says, 'Every one of us can do something.  Be a hero.  Be somebody's hero.'  I liked that a lot - everyone can do something.  What can you do?

A little extra motivation..

Today was the long run of the week, and since Somerville is still covered in piles and piles of snow then I grudgingly headed over to the gym to do my run indoors.  Ugh.  But I was a bit excited since this would be my first trip to my new gym, the local BSC.  There was hardly anyone else on the cardio floor when I picked a treadmill and started running.  The quirk about the treadmill was that it wouldn't allow me to run any longer than an hour - so after my hour was up I had to stop, and then restart again to finish up my last .9 of a mile.  I felt pretty good overall though, staying at a relaxed pace most of the way through and then kicking it up on the last mile to just under a 9:00/mile pace.  Overall, I did 6.5 miles in about 66 minutes (give or take a bit, considering my stop / restart).  My legs still felt fresh at the end of the run, which I was happy about and I was right around my target pace.  During my miles of running, I came up with a creative way to motivate myself over the next 3 months that remain before the marathon.  Last year, I fell far behind my target time and finished the marathon in 5:56.30.  I was, and still am thrilled to have finished my first ever marathon.  That said, I'm also a competitor - so to motivate myself to keep pushing hard in my training I decided that in addition to setting an overall time goal (which is 4:56 in case you were wondering) is to pledge that for every minute I cut off of last years time, I will donate two dollars to the DFMC team.  So, if I hit my goal time of 4:56 then that's 60 minutes, or $120.  I figured it's a unique way to motivate myself - and all for a great cause!  If you'd like to join my minutes for money challenge then let me know!  The more the better!

The dreaded treadmill run

Hi all and belated Happy New Year!  I took a bit of break from blogging over the holidays, but not to worry I'm back  : )  As I'm currently snowed in at my apartment I decided this would be a good time for an update.  2011 has arrived, and with it I've received several donations via my fundraising website as well as in the mail.  With each donation, I'm humbled by the generosity of family and friends particularly during this challenging economic climate.  At times I feel hesitant to ask for donations, as I'm very much aware of the financial squeeze that many people are undergoing.  But with every DFMC team email that we receive, I'm reminded of the important work that the donations are funding.  Just this week, I read about this update from one of the Barr Program-funded scientists:

William Sellers, MD, and his colleagues identified genetic abnormalities in proteins that control cell growth in cancers. These major discoveries led directly to the development of targeted drugs used  by patients worldwide for the treatment of multiple cancers, including lung cancer, leukemia, and melanoma. This work has become the model for personalized medicine in cancer treatment and is widely 

credited for helping transform the approach that pharmaceutical companies use for drug development.


Being able to support the efforts of these scientists is a very exciting endeavor, but one that I couldn't do without your help.  If you'd like to donate, head over to my Fundraising Page !  As for my training, this past week my long run was 6-7 miles.  I was on the road with my hockey team, the Boston Blades, on the day of the run so Annie (my marathon running buddy!) and I headed down to the hotel treadmills early in the morning.  I'm not much of a treadmill person - it's incredibly boring for me.  But nonetheless we finished up our 6 miler without too much difficulty.  This week will be the turning point in terms of running distance as we move past 7 miles and start really building up to the longer runs.  I can't believe that the marathon is just about 3 months away...time is certainly flying!  I'll be heading to the gym later today to run on the dreaded treadmill since the snow has made running outside nearly impossible - stay safe in the snow!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Mom and Dad  : )

Greg, Cherie, and Jonathan 

DFMC 2011 - Here I come!

Merry Christmas!!  : )  It has been a whirlwind week, and part of me still can't believe that it's Christmas morning.  This past weekend I took the first part of my state certification testing for my EMT-B license, which was the practical exam.  For the exam, there are several 'stations' each of which presents a different scenario (for example, an unresponsive/not breathing patient in need of CPR/AED, a broken wrist that needs splinting, etc.).  The first station that I got assigned to was a victim with a broken femur (that huge bone in your thigh).  As I stood before the two state examiners mentally rehearsing all the little known facts that I knew about broken femurs, I gave them the nod and began verbalizing the steps I needed to take.  But after the first step I had one small problem - my mind suddenly went completely blank and I totally forgot what Step 2 was.  My mind was racing and I decided that I couldn't just stand there staring blankly so I knelt by our 'patient' and began to examine the arm for a radial pulse, sensation, and motor function.  The arm.  I was examining the arm of a patient with a broken femur.  Why I thought that was a good thing to do, I'm not sure!  But as soon as I finished looking at the arm my brain cleared and I remembered all the remaining steps with ease.  My partner told me that the look on my face when I realized what I was doing was priceless.  After that small bout with nerves, I managed to go through the rest of the stations without any hiccups and - although they don't explicitly tell you - I think I passed!  An early Christmas present to be sure.

The rest of the week flew by, beginning with my trip to NYC to see The Tree in Rockefeller Square and many other Christmas sights.  Next came the Hendrickson Christmas celebration - always a highlight.  We draw names at Thanksgiving so each person buys for one other person, and this year baby Connor had me.  He (slash Kevin and Emma, his parents) did an awesome job and gave me some new winter running clothes - I've already put them to good use!  Then yesterday on Christmas Eve my family was all together for the day  : )  including my little nephew Nathan.  My parents went along with the running theme and I am now the owner of a Garmin GPS running watch - pretty sweet!!  I'm excited to put it to use...after I figure out how to use it of course.

All in all it's been a great week, and a reminder of how lucky I am to be surrounded by such great family and friends.  A popular status on FB lately has been, The average person has 1000 wishes, but a cancer patient only has one: to get well.  This Christmas I hope you'll join me in helping to bring that wish to reality for many patients by donating to the DFMC team.  Click Here to visit my fundraising page and donate!

Thank you, and have a very Merry Christmas!!

One week down, lots to go

After my first week of official marathon training, I'm still alive and kicking!  : )  Ok so it wasn't all too strenuous of a week.  I had a few runs, being 3 and 4 miles long they only scratched the surface of what's to come.  But nonetheless, I kept all my average mile splits under 10:00 without having to push myself too hard.  Hey...for me, that's a pretty good start!  I picked up a friend to run with...one of my Blades teammates will be joining me for the 26.2 miles come April 18th.  She'll be a 'bandit' and I'm very excited to have her along for the training journey / marathon experience!  We sat down together to go over the marathon training plan provided by Dana Farber / Jack Fultz, our training advisor, and settled on moving the weekly calendar ahead by one day so our 'long' runs each week will fall on Friday rather than Saturday.  Since our hockey games are played on Saturday and Sunday, we decided that running 15 miles before a hockey game in February might not be our best bet!  Needless to say I've been excited to get back into a daily routine.  Also, my fundraising letters have been finished, printed, and are in the process of being stamped/signed/addressed/sent out the door!  Just in time for Christmas  : )  I hope you'll consider making a donation in support of the DFMC team - there's no better gift than changing the life of someone else in need.

And so it begins...cold weather running

I came to two conclusions when I headed out for a 6 mile run on Wednesday evening.  The first conclusion was that it has indeed begun - those months of the year when as soon as I step outside to begin my jog my face starts to tingle at the cold.  On Wednesday night in Somerville, according to weather.com it was 29 degrees, but felt like 17.  Coldddd!  I have to say that once I start going I warm up for the most part - minus my face which is the only thing exposed to the cold air.  It's an interesting paradox - but needless to say, if you see someone dressed entirely in black with reflectors on and a ghost white face running around the Somerville/Medford area at night - it's probably me!  My second conclusion was that it is not easy to write a blog about running.  Since I have plenty of time to think during my runs, I decided that I'd get ahead of the game and brainstorm what I was going to blog about.  But my next thought was...ok, what do I write?  I ran by a white house...then a blue one...and THEN, I ran over a bridge.  It's not all that thrilling, except for when I happen to see odd occurrences - like when a car tried to pull a u-turn on Broadway but was going entirely too fast and drove straight into the curb on the other side of the street.  (True story)  Or, last year when I was running during the day in Boxford by my parents house...and if you know Boxford, it's a super small town with lots of woods and animals...and while I was jogging along I saw a rooster hanging out by the side of the road.  Not an uncommon sight for me, so I ignored it and jogged by - only to glance back and find it bobbing it's head and running after me.  So I suppose there are a few such entertaining stories that I typically find hilarious - and those are what would make a 'running' blog interesting.

Anyway, Monday begins my official training schedule!  More updates on that to come..

A List of Thanks for Thanksgiving

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!

Day 1 of whipping myself back into shape...

Happy Monday everyone!!  : )  Since I've finally had a free moment to update on my first day of the 'pre-training plan' training (yep, figure that one out) and it's 9:30pm at night I think that says a lot about my day!  I was up bright and early to head to work - I'm in the Distribution Center for Christian Book Distributors (I know, shameless plug) and Mondays are always the busiest days for processing orders.  Suffice it to say my feet were a bit sore at the end of the day.  I headed right home to have a quick dinner with my mom before hopping back in my car to drive to hockey practice.  I'm playing for the Boston Blades of the CWHL (another shameless plug - go bladesssssssssss!) and am having a great time playing.  For those of you hockey fans - come check out a game.  Not so much to see me...I mean, I'm sure if you look close enough you'll be able to spot me on the bench : )  But, I have the thrill of playing with some of the top women's hockey players in the world!  It's pretty surreal playing with women who I watched on TV - so, if you have the hockey itch then come check us out.  Anyway...back to the true subject of this update.  I decided that my hour plus of hockey practice could count as my first day of training.  I'm planning on hitting the road tomorrow for a solid run and sitting down to plan out my real training schedule within the next couple days.  I'm also in the midst of writing my fundraising appeal letters...so, be on the lookout for those in a few weeks!  : )

I'm back!!

Yes, that's right - I'm officially back with the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge team for round 2 of the Boston Marathon!  For those of you who tracked me last year, I had a site on Shutterfly but decided to switch over to blogspot in hopes of motivating myself to make updating and chronicling the next few months a more regular habit  : )  Also, there are several of my DFMC teammates who have blogs, so be sure to check them out as well!  I'm hoping to familiarize myself with the site so in theory I'll have links to their pages on here within a few days.  But before I go too much farther - a quick review of last year running with DFMC.

I first found out about the DFMC program because a friend of mine had run for them two years ago, and from the moment I found out about it I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of.  I've been a hockey player since pretty much birth - and running has never come naturally to me.  But there was something about the challenge of running a marathon that intrigued me.  Combine that with the cause of running for Dana Farber, one of the premier cancer institutes in the world, and I was sold.

Months after making that decision to run my perspective had changed.  I was always excited about raising money for Dana Farber - two of my aunts had been treated there, along with many other friends and friends of friends.  I had always known it was a great cause - but it was sometime during Marathon weekend when I truly realized what the DFMC team meant to each of the former or current cancer patient.  Perhaps it was during the DFMC pasta dinner, when many Jimmy Fund patients stood onstage with glowing smiles - most of these patients were in remission, some were not.  All had hope.  Perhaps it was when I stood in the DFMC refuge along with all the other DFMC runners, each with their own reasons for running.  Or maybe it was at 5am that morning, when I pulled on my singlet that had the names and initials of family and friends who had battled/were battling cancer.  I'm not really sure - but what I am sure of it that when I was halfway through the marathon and began to have stomach problems I knew that I couldn't quit.

I wasn't aiming for a lightning fast time to begin with - but after miles of stopping at each porta potty and terrible cramping, I was far behind my target pace.  But it really didn't matter - I ended up finishing in 5 hours and 56 minutes.  What really mattered though, was the support that each of you had contributed to over the several months prior to actual race day.  I had contributed roughly $5,200 to the DFMC team - and as a whole, we raised a record breaking $4,556,954.60 - 100% of which went directly to the Claudia Adams Barr Program for basic cancer research.  That's what truly mattered - that together we were making strides to beat a disease that will affect 1 in 3 people at some point during their lifetime.  And that's precisely why I'm back for more!  So I'm asking for your help, after all I couldn't do it without your support!  Please visit My Fundraising Page to donate online or for more information on other ways to donate!  Thanks you in advance for your support...each dollar is bringing us closer to a cure!