Over the $1,000 Mark

Well, I feel like I am reaching a few different benchmarks. Today I broke the $1,000 mark in donations received. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the outpouring of support from friends and family in this endeavor. I do keep your support in mind constantly while progressing through my miles. Thank you, everyone!

The second bench mark I reached was the 14 mile mark this weekend, surpassing the distancing of a half-marathon (13.1 miles). On September 22nd, which would have been my grandmother's 94th birthday, I pushed my way through 14 miles. I can imagine my grandmother would have been both extremely proud of me and probably pointed out just how insane what I am trying to do is. This fact has crossed my own mind. It is typically somewhere between mile 8 and 9 when I realize that I have 5-6 miles left and a majority of that distance is up some pretty nasty hills. I have been told that thinking that I am insane is not entirely unusual among marathon trainees. I am not sure how consoling this thought is, but I must be in good company.

Unfortunately I am battling a little bit of a cold. So the training this week might be a little light. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. The goal for the rest of the week is a 7 mile run tomorrow, 4 on Thursday, and a nice 16 miles on Saturday. As my friend Caitlin so nicely pointed out - I will be consistently running the farthest I have ever run for the next few weekends. That's a little scary.

So, I feel like I should put on a funny/happy memory about my sisters. Of course, I am doing this from memory and my childhood memories might differ from my brothers' or my parents', so take it with a grain of salt that I was approximately 5 years old when the following story took place:

Around one Christmas, my mother asked Susan to look after my younger brother Tim and I while she went out Christmas shopping. I, being a little bit of a pesty younger sister, kept asking Susan to read Christmas story after Christmas story because I refused to go asleep. As time passed, I am sure Susan was a little nervous that Mom would come home after 10pm with her 5 year old daughter still awake, so she was desperately trying to get me to sleep.

Suddenly, my mother came running into the living room. Susan and I both quickly jumped to excuses as to why I was still awake but before we could utter anything that could half-pass as the truth, my mom had announced that she had just seen Santa and his reindeer on the front lawn and he had left an early Christmas present. She quickly gathered up both my brothers and my father and brought us out to the front lawn. (This is where my memory is a little foggy. It could be that my father was with my mother. I'm not entirely sure.) Outside, near the street, stood a box that to a 5-yr-old appeared 10 feet tall. It was likely only about 4 or 5 feet tall. I remember the box being gold with a huge black ribbon (again - I could be wrong about these details). I remember Ted and Susan making their way down the sidewalk while my parents watched eagerly. Tim and I, shivering in the December weather, remained close to the front door. Ted pulled the box and underneath the golden box came Teresa, who had been living in the UK for the previous months. Susan shrieked. I remember being scared about Susan's shrieking and then being excited about Santa's early Christmas present -- my sister Teresa who was not expected to make the trip home that Christmas. The picture to the right was taken that Christmas.