I am still training for a marathon. Yes, a full 26.2 miles. Because I am insane…crazy…out of control (that last phrase courtesy of Litte Man). It has been intense, and I have nine more weeks to go. My mom has been spending Friday nights so I can go to our group long runs on Saturdays at 7 am. We’ve been eating spaghetti every Friday night* for weeks so I can easily run on Saturday mornings.

*Well, except this past Friday. Everyone was complaining, so I made macaroni & cheese with veggies instead. Big mistake. Don’t ever change your eating routine before a ten mile practice day. Ouch. I did not feel well at all on Saturday morning during practice. Or for quite a while afterwards.

Okay, so “run” is pretty generous. It’s mostly walking very quickly with a few minutes of running here and there. I have been injured off and on since the beginning, so I can only do what my body says “yes” to, and that’s mostly walking. However, I have cut about 3 minutes per mile off of my pace, so that is awesome!! If I continue at the same pace as Saturday, I’m set to finish the marathon in just under 6 1/2 hours.

I know some of you reading just guffawed, because you can do a marathon in like three hours. However, I am quite proud that I haven’t quit and I’m mentally thinking I CAN DO THIS!

Why? Why am I training for a marathon? Well…it’s always been on my secret list of things I’ve wanted to do. And then I met a friend who works with Team in Training. They are an incredible organization that is a branch of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  My friend’s daughter is a leukemia survivor. My grandmother passed away from leukemia. A blogger friend’s teenage son was just diagnosed with leukemia this week. A woman I worked with at camp a few years ago? Her sister is our team’s honored hero, meaning she is in remission.

Cancer is everywhere. But I just didn’t want to raise money, I wanted to DO something. So I signed up. I committed to a marathon and to raise a certain amount of money.

Would you be willing to run/walk/bike? Let me know; I’ll share  more of my experience with you. Go to a Team in Training info meeting. You can do it if I can!

Would you be willing to contribute toward a cure? Let me know and I’ll send you the link to my fundraising page.

Would you be willing to pray? Cause that would be awesome to know I have people praying for me for the next nine weeks, and then especially from 8am to 2:30pm on November 3.