Fantastic news!!

I REACHED MY FUNDRAISING GOAL!!!!!!!!!

I donated the final $3 tonight and am at $3,900!!  I didn't think in a million years that I could raise that much.  You all have blown me away with your amazing generosity!  I appreciate every dollar you have donated and every word of support you've given me!  What a great way to bring in my 2 week countdown!

THANK YOU!!  :D

20 MILES! Seattle, here I come!

The 20 miler was today!!  It has been absolutely the most mentally/physically taxing day of my life - and an amazing one, too!

I ran with my mentor, Peter, and another girl on our team, Lindsey, who usually run together.  They follow the Galloway Method, which is a run-walk strategy to avoid injury and to make running marathons less stressful on your body.  We run for 8 minutes and walk for 2.  Those 2 minutes are supposed to re-energize you so that during the 8 minutes you can run faster than you would be if you just ran it straight.  Considering that before today the longest I had run was 11ish miles (I was sick when they did the last big run), I thought this was a smart choice.

After about 3.5 miles we had to run up one of the steepest hills I've ever seen.  And it was at least 1/4 mile long!  I'm just glad that was at the beginning and not the end!

The run-walk was working really well for me.  At first I felt like I should keep running because I had so much energy, but I think it really saved me in the end.

At about mile 13 (half-marathon!!) I reached my first wall.  My whole body hurt, my leg muscles felt fatigued, and it was all I could do to just keep up with Peter and Lindsey.  I was absolutely miserable, but I kept at it.

At mile 15 I not only reached the wall, but ran right into it.  The SAG stops had been 4 miles apart, and by the time I got there I was light headed, dizzy, and all of my muscles felt tight and unhappy.  I couldn't sit still but I couldn't keep going.  My coach took my pulse, gave me gatorade, and ran/walked with me for the next 1/2 mile or so, when the gatorade kicked in and my head was clear again.  From then on out I was alone in my run.  My hips were hurting just from being on my feet for so long and my leg muscles weren't helping me out - I should've lifted weights earlier in the season!

Me.  Hitting the wall.  

Then I discovered something life-saving.  I started counting my steps.  It was originally a way to keep track of how long I should run and how long I should walk (I don't have a watch, still... oops!), but it ended up being something I could focus on.  The steps just kept on coming, even up hills that I thought I wouldn't be able to make.  It was insane how my feet just kept going even though I thought, "maybe I'll just take a little break..."

The last mile was uphill and my FABULOUS coaches Neal and Erin met me and ran the last leg with me, cheering me on.  At the end my team was stretching out and drinking water - and they were all so supportive!  They told me that they thought I was going to quit at some point and were so impressed that I toughed it out.  One of them, who has done 4 marathons, wrote on my facebook: "I've seen some gutsy performances turned in over the years.  Your 20 miles today will stick in my mind for a long time as one of the great efforts.  Nice job."

So I cried when I finished, I cried when telling my mom about it, but I'm so proud of myself!

The "tunnel of love" finish line!

And since apparently in those 5 hours I burned about 3,000 calories... I've got some eating to do!

June Update! 24 days and counting!

It has been far too long since I updated this!  So sorry!

Most importantly, my list of most favorite people/companies:

Albertson's

Giovanni's Pizza

Kaylan Basacker

Lee & Carol Kemper-Mccall

Molly Kious

Terryann Satterfield

Vons

I'm at $3,406!  88%!!  Thank you thank you thank you to those of you who have donated!  I cannot thank you enough!

In April Rachel and I held a fundraiser at Giovanni's Pizza called, "Take a Slice out of Cancer!"  They gave us 10% of profits we brought in.  Lots of our friends and members of our sorority came out to support, and we made about $32 between the two of us.  It was great for a fun evening of playing games and hanging out at a pizza parlor!

Eating pizza to find a cure!

In May we held another fundraiser, but this time we wanted to donate all of the profits, so we did it ourself.  Gamma Phi Beta hosted our Spaghetti Feed Fundraiser, and we invited friends, family and anyone who wanted to pay $5 to eat a big plate of spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread and a drink.  We raised a total of $422!!  And the people who helped out at this event deserve their own special recognition, because we could not have pulled it off without the people laboring over pounds and pounds (24 to be exact) of pasta, buying more sauce, serving up hot garlic bread, setting up tables/chairs, cleaning up the kitchen and manning the ticket table.

Alex Blacker

Alyssa Skipper

Barbara Roseland

Deb Watkins

Jackie Li

Karen Kious

Ken Kious

Meredith Meaux

Marissa Floro

They're basically my heroes :)

And I'm sure most of you heard about it, but the Santa Barbara hills caught on fire a couple of weeks ago, and the smoke and ash + my asthma + a chest cold = TERRIBLE.  I didn't run for an entire two weeks because I had a difficult time breathing and our coaches told us not to go outside unless we absolutely had to.  So getting back on the horse has been very difficult.  But I'm doing it!  With a countdown of less than a month, this is serious.  This upcoming Saturday is our longest run yet.... the 20 miler!!!  If I can make it to 20, I can make it to 26.2, so I'm hydrating, carbing up, and getting lots of sleep in preparation.  I'll be sure to update you all on how that goes!

On Sunday half of our team ran the San Diego Rock'n'Roll Marathon.  Their pictures are fantastic!  Everyone got medals for finishing, and limped to our track practice yesterday to wish us luck and share their stories.  Everyone finished.  I am impressed and proud of Team in Training for getting everyone to the point where they can finish!  Even one guy whose knee was killing him so badly that he had to walk the last six miles finished.  And he got a better time than I'll get running!

I wish all of you could meet my team members and coaches.  They are such amazing people, and I'm going to be sad when the season is over!