Abso-FREAKING-lutely AMAZING

 Miles to Date: 63

This week was a busy one with lots of miles!  I added another 19 miles to the total this week.  Our running group ran on Thursday, the day of Jen's 2nd chemo treatment so we wore purple on our run for her.  Kathleen had bought shirts for some of us a few months ago that are convienently purple and pink and say "Abso-freaking-luetly Amazing" (Thanks Nike), and since we all think Jen is pretty amazing we wore them for her.  Poor Leah doesn't have one yet - but she represented really well in an all purple Nike outfit.

This week was a big one for Jen too, in addition to her second round of chemo, she started to lose her hair.  She wrote a pretty funny blog about it but I still think it was pretty scary.  On Wednesday she told me she didn't think she was strong enough to shave it off and be done with it which is totally understandable.  By Friday (with a little inspiration from Charlize Theron) she decided she could do it.  Even though she told me I was crazy I hopped in the car and made the 2 hour drive to be there and help her shave it.  Lucky for her, that melon of hers is pretty cute and not lumpy or weirdly shaped at all!  Now I need to go find her some fabulous earrings to rock.  She continues to amaze me with her incredible strength and bravery, and I love her so much!  I am so proud of her for going through this with the grace that she is.  I also was lucky enough to finally get to meet the cute little guy that we're pretty sure saved her life (talk about a get out of trouble card there - that little kid is set for life now!)

For now time to keep on running - Jen also mentioned that she thinks on the days she feels up to it she's gonna start running and is going to run as much of that half marathon we signed up for as she can!  I think it will be the best race of my life!

A Goofy Idea

Miles to Date: 44

This weekend our training schedule had us running on both Saturday and Sunday.  A bunch of the girls I run with have bit the bullet and signed up for Disney's Goofy's Race and a Half.  This means the second weekend in January we'll be running the Donald Half Marathon on Saturday, and the 20th anniversary Mickey Full Marathon on Sunday.  39.3 miles total that weekend (with some talks of tossing in a 5k on the Friday as well!)  It definitely seems a little bit Goofy to be logging all of the miles that training for this race will require, but now with a purpose that matters they don't seem so bad.

Before my Sunday Goofy Training Run

All around me I have been noticing things that remind me of Jen and one of the coolest was on our Saturday run.  Rounding the corner to our finish area I noticed a heart with an A and a J in it on the sidewalk.  We run parts of the same route most weekends but I've never really noticed it before.  It made me happy and made me think of Jen (and my husband who is also a J).  It's funny how things you never notice suddenly mean so much to you.

On my run A+J

For now I'm going to keep running and logging those miles!  6 or 7 tomorrow morning assuming this Tropical Storm will go away!

Pink and Purple - Logging Extra Miles!

Miles to date: 34

For those of you who don't know me - I don't mind the color pink.  I actually quite like HOT pink.  Conveniently for me Breast Cancer's color is pink so it is easy for me to deck myself in pink for the cause.  However,  my friend Jen is not as wild about pink as I am and asked her friends and family to wear purple (her favorite color) on Thursdays (her Chemo days) to show support.

This week some of our running group decided that it was time to "run before our run" and added in an extra 3 miles of a warm up before our usual workouts.  This requires starting at 4 am instead of 5 am, but we manage to get in 6 miles instead of 3.  It's Thursday so this morning I put on a purple Nike top and laced up my hot pink Nike shoes (I'm a bit of a Nike junkie) for my run and for my cause!  12 miles total this week so far with another 10 planned for this weekend.  Racking up those miles and hopefully those donations!

For Jen

Welcome to my Blog!

A little about myself:
I started running about a year ago.  I will be the first to say I was never a runner.  But, I started running with a local marathon training group and training for my first half marathon.  After that I kept running and started training for my first marathon.  On May 6th, just days after my 31st birthday, I ran and finished the Pittsburgh Marathon in 6 hours and 43 minutes.  While in the beginning I didn't enjoy the running and the miles, it eventually grew on me.  Is every run fun?  UH NO. Is running in the Florida heat and humidity fun? UH NEVER.  Do I continue? YES, pretty much without fail 3 to 4 times a week.  Before a few weeks ago, running was just something I did, not something that I could make matter.

On May 31, 2012, Jen, my best friend and Matron of Honor, was diagnosed with Stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma... Breast Cancer.  I couldn't believe it!  I've known her since we were 18 and living in the the dorms at the University of Central Florida.  To top the shock of Breast Cancer off, she was 9 months pregnant and due to have her third son two weeks later.  What should have been one of the happiest times of her life was now tainted by this lingering cloud of Cancer.  Everybody always wants to "do something" when something like this happens to someone close to you.  We live 2 hours apart, so bringing meals and babysitting aren't always feasible contributions.  Right away I turned to running.

Jen had signed up to run her first half marathon with me in March 2013, and was planning on starting to train after she had her baby.  Training has been replaced with trips to Chemo and beating Cancer.  However, I can still run.  I made the decision to run the New York City Marathon in November 2013 and run it for a Breast Cancer Charity in her honor.  While it is too early to sign up with a charity and commit to their fundraising goals of at least $3,000, I can start now trying to spread the word and have people start thinking about supporting me in this race.

Running Miles that Matter: I decided to keep track of all of the miles that I run from the day she was diagnosed.  So far I am at 22 miles.  I am going to try and make a pledge to myself that I'll set a dollar aside for every mile I run and add that to my fundraising efforts.  It's like I'm back in elementary school getting pledges for our annual Walk-a-Thon! (thanks Coach Poekert for having us do that every year)  So if you're interested, maybe you can set aside something (hey even 10 cents a mile will add up) for each mile I run and when my NYC Marathon donation site is up and running pledge me then!  I'm hoping together we can make "Team Jen" wildly successful!

Jen and Me - May 2011