And we crossed the finish line.....

After 2 hours and 52 minutes on their clock and 2 hours and 40 minutes of moving time on ours... Tyne and I passed the finish line holding hands.
Hopefully we will get a picture of that soon!

***
But let me start at the beginning!
Tyne and I headed downtown at about 430 Saturday afternoon... we had a team PASTA party to go to and a hotel room that came with out fund raising!
What??? a night away, without hubbies and kiddos.... OH BUT WE HAD TO SLEEP!
HA

We went to the pasta party and heard some wonderfully inspirational stories and advice and info to help us through the race.

After the dinner we decorated our bibs...

The front....

The back...

This is the block of my inspiration... all the wonderful people I ran for!
Jack- My Step Dad
Jackie- My brother-
Jim- My Uncle
Gage- A inspirational little boy
Shootin' Straight- A wonderful friend and her family
Pirate Susan- An amazing and STRONG woman!
Mimi- My great Aunt
Lacy- A dear friend

(hope you all had a wonderful run!)

This is Tyne and I at 545am... everyone looks so great that early!
This was after a restless night of nervous and anxiety... but we got through it!
We were walking out of the door to get to the bus by 6.

The race started at 7am!

Here we are grabbing water ... this was 5.5 miles in!
Gavin got this picture from the sidelines! What a great time to see our families!
The kiddos were being so great sitting in the stroller and our hubbies had a wonderful since of pride on their faces!

After a few hugs and kisses we kept on...
Ran up to 6.6 miles and flipped around and headed back!
Hitting the half way point was wonderful!

The race was great, Tyne and I are so compatible when we run! I could have not asked for a better running partner!

We did have some memorable moments of the run...
about mile 2.5 we ran over a snake AHHHHH!
Our coach ran with us for about 2 miles... that helped a ton!
I got hit in the elbow by a biker... those guys have NO RESPECT!
We got sprayed with sprinklers and ate our goo and beans like pros .. HAHAHAH!
The last mile was rough, we both had side cramps and were so thirsty.
But it was our fastest mile we ran... we just wanted to be FINISHED!

The hardest mile for me was 9...
I have no idea why but I had to fight through it...
at one point I lifted my arms up in the air and asked my uncle for wings... Tyne prob thought I was a nutt case! HA! But we got through that mile and 4 more!

After the race... My sweet hubby and kiddo (who fought getting in the picture) ran the last 1/4 mile with us. I can not tell you how much that helped!

We had a great fan club...
My hubby and crazy son, Tyne's hubby, daughter and sister... and her wonderful friend Julia met up at the 1.4 mile mark! She was wonderful, cheering us on and taking pictures!

Over all it was a great experience!
Our entire team raised over 140,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's!

Sometimes HE...

...just helps the decisions you make, make a little more sense!

Today Travis and I were running errands and headed to the sporting good store to get him a weight for his fishing pole. Ever since he flushed his fishy we have not been able to keep anything on his line that will weigh enough for him to cast it out farther then a few feet. My uncle told me they have practice weights for casting and I should get one for T's pole...
We head inside and I tell the sales guy what we are looking for and we head to the fishing section. Travis was in fishing pole heaven... you know the display rack has all the poles standing straight up and leaning over like you are walking under a bridge made of poles. Can you imagine how wonderful Travis thought that was!
We got out weights and headed to check out and the entire conversation from that second on was about fishing and poles ect...
After we pay, he is holding my hand and we are walking out of the store... I was digging in my purse for my keys and of course they had disappeared int he bottomless pit of toys, night-nights, snacks and other junk! The store was having a BBQ sale so I just plopped my purse down on one of the bbq's and started digging... Travis was playing with the knobs and then started walking away. I glanced over to see where he was going and saw exactly what grabbed Trav's attention. There was a little boy, maybe 7 years old, and his grandfather walking into the store. The little boy was carrying a fishing pole. Travis thought it was too cool... This little boy also had on a mask and was loosing his hair, he had hospital bands on his wrists and just really did not look very well at all. You could tell this child has been through way to much for his short little life and was just gathering up the strength to just walk into that store.
As they get closer , Travis starts walking up to the little boy wanting to play. He was so interested in the big boy with his fishing pole. I looked over at the little boys grandfather and he gives me this look of I am so sorry but he is to sick to play with other kids.... a look only parents would understand. I grabbed T's hand and said he needed to wave bye bye to the little boy and we walked off.

I strapped Travis in his car seat and my eyes started filling up with tears. It made every complaint of Travis being sick, the complaints about his spider bite, the frustration of teething all seem so miniature and non-existent. I thanked GOD at the second for giving me a healthy child... but I also wanted to scream at him for putting any child through pain like that, any parent through pain to see their child sick... I was starting to get really emotional when I realized what had happened.

My race is on Sunday. Throughout the journey of raising money and training with Team in Training I have numerous times wanted to quite. I wanted to walk away from it all... 5 months is a long LONG time to stick to something. But I never did, I have had so many wonderful people help get me on the right track to stay involved and get passed whatever was making it hard to train that week. As we all know sometimes life just gets in the way of new ventures.
From the beginning of this adventure with Team in Training (for me) it was all about the children.
If I could just raise enough money to help 1 child survive I would be fulfilled!

I believe that GOD put that child in my path to help me remember why I signed up for this in the first place... Help me see that I may be fund raising to save his life. To help me have that much more strength to run a little farther and fight a little harder on Sunday!

It all made so much more sense right then!

3 days away!

The big day is almost here...

The day that I run 13.1 miles !
The day that I run 13.1 miles with a dear friend by my side!
The day I run 13.1 miles and show the world that 1 person can help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives!
The day I run 13.1 miles and prove to myself that I can do anything I put my mind to!

13.1 miles... that is not a short distance. Clock it in your car tomorrow... you will be shocked!

I am getting excited and ready for the day to be here!
I am so glad I did this, it was rough! fund raising and training together... but I wouldn't change a thing!

THANKS needs to go out to EVERY one that has donated and supported Tyne and I both during this process!

Please keep us in your prayers for a wonderful race, excellent weather ( a little overcast and not humid and hot would be wonderful!) and a FUN time!

I CANT WAIT!

A little over a month left...

It is crazy to think that the half marathon is in little over a month... like as in 1 month and 5 days!
WOW!
Training for this run has been pretty crazy so far...
I have gone from being so excited and pumped to nervous and feeling a bit defeated.
After Sasha passed I kinda lost it a bit in many ways... including putting training on hold for a while.
This was not too terrible for my running but has put some strain on my health.
Unfortunetly when I get really depressed I get a major eating disorder... not the kind that keeps your from eating. The kind that is eating to make you hurt less.
I have always been an emotional over eater and this did not help with my issues... It has made me gain unwanted weight that I worked so hard to get off and the weight gain has made me feel awful!
Because I am training for this run and can not start a full on diet like South Beach because I for sure need the carbs to work out and run... I have decided to attempt a HUGE lifestyle change.
I started my endeavor last week and have done really good on my step 1.
My life style change is this...
Eat Healthy and do NOT over eat!
Last Monday I started making Smoothies that contain veggies and fruits.
This has been so fun and for sure a learning experience...
Thanks to all the friends and family that have tried the crazy new flavors or smoothies Yummy or not :)
Starting tomorrow I will stop snacking on junk ... I wouldn't say I snack on things that are BAD for me... just snacking in general is something I need to STOP doing all together!
I figure after a week of adding more fruits and veggies my body is not going to be in complete shock when I stop eating so many carbs. I am still going to eat carbs of course... just better ones. Whole grain breads and crackers, replacing the bad with way better.
My goal is to not feel like I am running with not needed extra weight when it comes to race day!

Now back to the race!
I am getting really excited the closer it gets.
I plan on crossing the finish line on May 18th with a HUGE sense of accomplishment...
raising money for a wonderful cause and training with a wonderful friend has just been so awesome and will be so great to celebrate it all after it is all over!

I have raised $1224 and need just $576 more to reach my goal!
Any help would be wonderful!

I cant believe I have come this far and yet still have so much more to travel!

This is me....

...after running 6 miles!

I trained today for my run with my Team In Training group and ROCKED OUT 6 miles!
I am on cloud 9 right now!

In this picture... that is my SUPER cool Garmin running watch!
My Stats for today...
6.16 miles
best pace: 8.51
avg pace: 12.29
calories burned: 865 :)

I am so pumped this morning!
I am doing good on my runs and doing well on my fund raising... still have more to do, but as of right now I am RIGHT on track!
If you want to learn more about what I am doing CLICK the image on top of my posting area!

** and yes, I do run with my ring and bracelet on! I am a dork, I know!

5 MILES!

Tyne and I rocked out 5 Miles today in our training!
It was very rewarding and exhausting!
I am so very VERY proud of us!!!

Our race is in a month and 20 days....
YAY! I am pumped.
I will admit I was a little burnt out recently but after today I am in FULL FORCE!

I have about $700 left to raise!
Wanna Help?
click HERE

Saturdays Training!

Tyne, Joana and I ROCKED the 3 mile run!
It was so fun... COLD , but FUN!
I was a little disappointed in the "training" aspect of the morning. I really thought they would have warmed us up at the beginning or stretched us out at the end. But overall, everyone there was so fun and happy! You could tell everyone was pumped to be doing it for a reason! 2 of our team heroes were there. 2 people that have survived from one of the blood cancers we are fighting to find cures for. It was amazing to see them cheering us on, telling their story and ever walking the miles.
I can not wait to enhance my time and mileage.
It was FUN and so rewarding!

Now I want all the gadgets to go with running...
( Joana has them all, I am jealous!)
a Garmin Runner
Ipod/Nike Sport kit
Sheesh all the fun things

RUNNIN'!

Tomorrow morning BRIGHT & EARLY at 630am is the first time I am meeting with my Team in Training group to do our first run together! 3 miles... woo hooo!

I just finished uploading some songs on my ipod that make me want to dance, hop, skip and even box, hopefully these will get me in the groove of pounding the pavement tomorrow!! HA!

Here is my list in case you are wondering:

(yes, I know some of you are probably shocked at the amount of Rap on this list, but it helps!)

I am a little anxious about tomorrow morning, I have been fighting allergies and some clogged ears (weird huh?!), I hope that does not make tomorrow harder then it should be!

I just keep telling myself that Thank GOD I can run... because there are people out there that can not do what I can. It makes this cause so worth while!

I will keep y'all posted on my progress :)
If you want to help me make a difference you can donate on my Team in Training site by clicking HERE.

I know it is hard to spare some extra cash on things like this... Let me tell you there was a point in my life that I thought people who asked for donations were just beggars. Then I opened my eyes to the possibilities that can come from just asking for a dollar to 2 from someone to help some sort of fund raising. I raised almost $500 when I did the run for Breast Cancer last year! Thats AWESOME!

The other day I looked at my stats and I am getting at least 200-250 hits on my site a day. If you all donated $2-$5 we would be adding at least $400 closer to finding a CURE for blood cancers!

Anything can help! ANYTHING!
On my Fund Raising site there is an option to donate $ Other, no set limit...
This means you can donate $2 or $5, dig in the console of your car... donate the $1.25 you find.
Nothing is too small.

Ok, I am done blabbing about my new venture!
Wish me luck!

Click HERE to help!

Making a list!

I am so thrilled that I am going to do the team in training run and raise money to fight these EVIL blood diseases. I cant believe how lucky I am to not know anyone personally that has had one of these cancers. I have read a few sites this evening that parents of children with Leukemia or Lymphoma have created to track their fight and have really had a rough night digesting some of the things I have read. What a heartbreaking and surreal day it must have been when these parents found out their children had cancer. You would think that these diseases should only be in the blood of evil people that do not deserve to live a life... but life seems completely unfair when you hear of another child with cancer.

I cannot wait to run for all these families... show them that people they do not even know care and want to help find a cure!

PLEASE let me know your stories, names, websites of friends, family or even just someone you randomly found that has, lived with, fought or passed from any form of blood cancer (Leukemia & Lymphoma) I want to run for anyone and everyone I can. I have until May 18th to make a list to run for... I plan on writing everyones name in a piece of paper and attaching it to me and taking them all on a 13.1 mile run!

I will add this link to the top of my blog... Please tell anyone about my venture.
Blog about it, help me raise money... anything!
Lets see how many names we can get on my list!

Here is my Team In Training site

Team In Training!

Along with my some girlfriends I have decided to take on a new venture!
With the help of Teamin Training we are all going to run a 1/2 marathon and on top of that save money to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

I am so excited about this process! I have always wanted to be someone that can run in marathons. It really has been a dream of mine and now one of my dreams will come true. I start training on Feb.8th and my race is on May 18th here in Dallas! I will be posting updates and my progress throughout my training... and hopefully some pictures as well!

Raising money for blood cancers is something different entirely. I am thankful that I have never been closely impacted by blood cancers. I have known a few people who have been affected and done sites for families that have children who have cancer or have beat it! This is where I want to step in, there is not one mother, father, wife, husband, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, friend, that should have to feel the pain of seeing a loved one suffer... or suffer themselves!
We can make a difference!

Please help me raise some money for a cure!
Here is a link to my site for Team in Training.

Every little bit helps!

xoxoxo