One More Reason...

Well, once again I only made one of my training runs this week. Brant made one regular run and the Tuesday night practice. We are planning on getting in more runs this week - but already neither of us can go tonight! It is hard to find the time for all this running sometimes!

We did run 16 miles this weekend. And I ran pretty much the whole thing. I ran with Mindy again this week (the girl who runs at the same pace as I do) and that really went well. We walked a few times, but mostly just around the water stops - nothing like the full mile I walked last time. So I'm pretty happy with myself.

Our pace was a bit slower this week, but we both felt good the whole time, so it seems like it must have been exactly right! It took us just over three hours (three hours and 4 minutes) so we would still be finishing the full marathon in under 6 hours, which is our goal.

Training this week is 30 min, 60 min and 60 min. Then this Saturday we get a bit of a break - we're dropping back down to 14 miles. But the Saturday after that we'll be up to 18! And actually, this Saturday Brant and I will be standing outside of Walmart soliciting donations again - so we'll actually be doing the run on our own on Sunday.

We have been steadily receiving donations, which is wonderful. And we're still planning our event that should be stellar and help us get a large chunk of the remaining money we are going to raise!

In other news, we recently found out that a family friend went through successful treatment of CLL or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia - so that is just one more reason why we are out there running and raising money!

We hope that everything is going well for everyone who has helped support us through all the training and fundraising! Have a great week!

Half Way There

I can't believe it's been so long since I wrote - but things have been really crazy and hectic. Last weekend (actually two weekends ago - the 9-10) we didn't even get our long run in! And I only went running at the Tuesday night practice last week before we ran 14 miles this past weekend!

So let's rewind - on the 9th we had a garage sale to help raise money. This involved getting people to donate stuff for us to sell and driving around to pick it all up. So on Friday night Brant and I drove out to Lake Jackson with our mentor Brenna (she has a truck) to pick up a couch and other miscellaneous stuff. Since none of us had ever been there before - we didn't realize it was a 60 mile trip. One way.

Friday night we didn't get to sleep until midnight, and Saturday we were up at 4:30! The Walmart where we had the sale was a good half hour drive from our house, so after loading up my car (Brant's was still full from the night before) we got to the Walmart a little before six. Just barely before people started lurking around to see if we were ready yet.

Brant made two or three more trips back to our apartment to get the rest of the stuff (our apartment building had let us use a garage for a week, thankfully, so at least he didn't have to go up to the third floor each time!). I stayed and set up and sold. There were six of us participating in the garage sale - so there was a lot of stuff!

It was a long, hot day, and by the time we were all cleared up it was 5pm already. It was all worth it though - we raised almost $600.

The next morning we headed out in front of another Walmart (just me and Brant this time) to basically beg for money. We also sold raffle tickets to win $100 worth of gas, some muffins and croissants, and helium balloons. We were there from 11-5 and raised about $700. So all in all it was a really good weekend!

That weekend helped us finally reach our half way point! That means we still have half way to go, but we're feeling much better about it. Anyway, the rest of last week was just busy, and I only went to the Tuesday night workout.

Then this past Saturday we headed out to run 14 miles! I made the first 12 okay, but then I walked half a mile, ran half a mile, walked half a mile and ran half a mile to finish it out. I think actually doing the runs this week will help me be able to run the full 16 next Saturday. Also, there is now a girl on the Team who runs at my pace. (She's been on the Team since the beginning, she's just improved a lot!) It is actually a bit easier to have someone else to run with out there.

This week we have 30 min, then 60 min and then 60 minutes. Then 14-16 miles on Saturday. It's exciting knowing that we're half way there - in every way. In two months we will be running the marathon, we have raised half of our fundraising goal, and now we have run just over half the full marathon.

I never in a million years could have pictured myself doing this. Running 30 minutes used to be quite a challenge. Now running an hour seems like nothing. I actually thought raising the money was going to be the easy part!

In other news, we are planning a fundraising/networking event called Join the Purple Fight - The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Spring Social and Silent Auction. This will hopefully help us get most of the rest of the way there. The catering and location are being donated, by The Culinarian (www.culinarian-tx.com) and The Caroline House (www.thecarolinehouse.com). So we're pretty excited about this.

Check out my website for more information about the event! www.hanakodesigns.com/marathon

Seeing the Difference

This week's run was another 10 miles, but Brant and I had been sick all week. Brant didn't run on Saturday, and I maybe shouldn't have. I ended up walking the last two miles of my run. But next week is another week.

This week's training is 30 min easy, 50 minutes (20-10-20), and then 45 min easy. And Saturday's run will be 12-14 miles. I'm aiming for 14 miles. Then I'll have run over half of what I'll need to run in June!

Tuesday night's practice was pretty fun - we met at a track and worked on speed - it was a pretty fun but tough workout. We weren't doing sprints, but we were doing intervals where we were pushing ourselves pretty hard.

But the real impressive thing this week happened yesterday. One of the honored patients for our West Houston Team, Donna Pitlik had us all over for dinner. She made Cuban food that was delicious. We had birthday cake for Brant and key lime pie for dessert too! She also told us more of her story.

Donna is really an amazing woman. She was diagnosed with Leukemia in 1993. Back then there were not many treatment options, but as Donna put it, if you could stay alive long enough - maybe you could stay alive long enough for something better to come along. She has been on various different treatments, many of which were found through research supported by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She is now on a new treatment, and for the first time is seeing a chromosonal change - which is a step in the right direction!

It was really interesting to hear her story and to know that the dollars that everyone contributes to this really do help people. Donna thanked us all for being a part of TNT, because without the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's support of research - she would not be here today.

So thanks to all of you for helping out! It really does make a difference in peoples' lives. Remember - every little bit adds up!

I hope that everyone is having a good week!