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